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A BRIEF OUTLINE OF THE 

BUSINESS OF WILLIAM 

WHITMAN &> CO. 

BOSTON . NEW YORK • CHICAGO • ST. LOUIS 

PHILADELPHIA • CHARLOTTE 

BALTIMORE • ATLANTA 














Copyright, igio 
By Malcolm D. Whitman 



THE UNIVERSITY PRESS, CAMBRIDGE, U.S.A. 



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tittle IPag^^ 




HAND SPINNING 

From a Fourteenth Century MS. in the British Museum 











PREFACE 

yT E have had occasion during the 
past year to prepare an outline of the 
scope and organization of our business. 
In the course of the work it occurred to 
us that there was some information that 
would be of interest to our associates, to 
our customers, and to others who are 
studying the progress of textile manu- 
facture in this country. 

We have attempted to embody this 
information in a brief form in the 
following pages. 












LADIES SPINNING AND WEAVING 
From a Fifteenth Century MS. in the British Museum 



CONTENTS 



PAGE 



Wool Production of the United States ... 12 

Wool Production of the World 13 

Cotton Producing Area of the United States . 14 

The World's Cotton Production 15 

The Principal Cottons 16, 17 

Mills Represented by William Whitman & Co. 18 

Introduction 19 

Arlington Mills — Officers & Directors .... 24 

Dress Goods Department 25 

Worsted Yarn Department 33 

Wool Prices, 1900-1910 3^5 39 

The World's Cotton Mills 43 

Manomet Mills — Officers & Directors . .... 44 

Cotton Yarn Department 45 

Prices Raw Cotton and Cotton Yarns, 1900-10 52, 53 

NoNQUiTT Spinning Company — Officers & Directors 55 

The Eddystone Manufacturing Co. — Officers & 

Directors r6 

Printed Goods Department 57 

Nashawena Mills — Officers &' Directors ... 64 

Gray Goods Department 65 

Prices Raw Cotton and Staple Cotton Fabrics, 

1906-1910 ,. . . . . . . . 66, 67 

New Bedford Group of Mills Represented . 72 

Evolution of the Dress Goods Industry . . 73 

The Mercerizing Process 83 

Improved Conditions in Modern Mills ... 88 

Index 

9 



91 



ILLUSTRATIONS 

A Flock of Three Thousand Sheep .... Frontispiece 



PAGE 



Hand Spinning 6 

Ladies Spinning and Weaving 8 

The First Arlington Mills, 1865 facing 25 

The Angora Goat . 26 

The Second Arlington Mills, 1867 29 

The Alpaca, Peru 30 

Arlington Mills, 19 10 33 

The First Manomet Mill, 1906 -45 

Hampton Cotton Mills, 19 10 46 

Manomet Mills, 1910 . . 48 

The First Nonquitt Mill, 1908 51 

Nonquitt Spinning Company, 19 10 55 

The Eddystone Manufacturing Company .... 56 

Nashawena Mills, 1910 65 

Nashawena Mills, Offices, and Power Plant, 1910 . 69 

Calhoun Mills, 1909 70 



10 



The firm of William Whitman & 
Company and its predecessors have been 
the selhng agents of the ArUngton Mills 
from 1887 until the present time. Mr. 
William Whitman, the senior member of 
the firm, has served as Treasurer or 
President of the Arlington Corporation 
since 1867. 
The present members of the firm are 

WILLIAM WHITMAN 
WILLIAM WHITMAN, JR. 
ARTHUR T. BRADLEE 
MALCOLM D. WHITMAN 
LOUIS H. FITCH 

Mr. William Whitman, Mr. Bradlee, 
and Mr. Fitch have their headquarters in 
the home office of the firm at 78 Chauncy 
St., Boston. Mr. William Whitman, Jr., 
and Mr. Malcolm D. Whitman are in 
charge of the New York Office of the firm 
at 350 Broadway, New York City. 

The firm offices are: 78 Chauncy St., 
Boston; 350 Broadway, New York; Royal 
Insurance Building, Chicago ; 300 Chestnut 
St., Philadelphia; Century Building, St. 
Louis; Maryland Bank Building, Balti- 
more; Equitable Building, Atlanta; 201 
South Tryon St., Charlotte. 



M V 3 




WOOL PRODUCTION OF THE WORLD 

(From the latest official returns and estimates^ 



Country 



/United States 

North J British Provinces 

AmerkaA Mexico 

I Central America and West Indies 



Total North America 



I Argentina 
Brazil 
Chile 
Peru 
Falkland Islands 
Uruguay 
All other South America reported 



America 



Total South America 



/"United Kingdom . . . 

Austria Hungary . . . 

France 

Germany 

Spain 

Europe < Portugal 

Greece 

Italy ....... 

Russia (Europe) 

Turkey and Balkan States 
lAll other Europe . . . 



Total Europe 



Asia 



'British India . . . . 

China ...... 

Russia (Asiatic) . 
Turkey (Asiatic) . . 

Persia 

All other Asia reported 



Total Asia 



("Algeria . . . . 

, , . British South Africa 
Africa -{ rr 
' I Tunis 



LAU other Africa reported 



Total Africa 



. (Australasia 

Oceania < ^,[ ^^j^^^. Oceania reported 



Total Oceania 



Total World 

World's production 1895 



Wool 

POUNDS 



328,110,749 

11,210,000 

7,000,000 

1,000,000 



347,320,749 



392,418,800 

1,130,000 

20,754,000 

9,940,000 

4,324,000 

111,552,760 
5,000,000 



545,119,560 



133, 
41, 
78. 
25, 
52, 
10, 
14 
21 

320 
90 
18 



705,074 
600,000 
000,000 
,600,000 
,000,000 
,000,000 
,000,000 
,500,000 
,000,000 
,500,000 
,000,000 



804,905,074 



5*0 ,000 ,000 
42,253,000 
60,000,000 
45,000,000 
12,146,000 
1,000,000 



210,399,000 



33,184,000 

89,783,000 

3,735,000 

13,000,000 



139,702,000 



756,590,163 
100,000 



756,690,163 



2,804,136,546 
2,692,986,773 



13 




^ 



THE WORLD'S COTTON PRODUCTION 

{From the latest returns and estimates) 

The world's commercial crops in bales of the uniform weight 
of 500 lbs. net each. 



Countries 


1908-09 


1907-08 


1906-07 


1905-06 


1904-05 


United States 
India (a) 
Egypt 
Russia 
Brazil, etc. (&) 


13,551,890 

3,084,870 

1,246,150 

601,200 

266,197 


11,257,538 

2,486,629 

1,432,469 

711,864 

299,006 


13,306,846 

3,536,086 

1,326,108 

781,760 

446,126 


11,048,000 

2,983,370 

1,152,516 

1,020,456 

476,667 


13,420,440 

2,952.720 

1,244,968 

683,064 

325,928 


Total 


18,750,307 


16,187,506 


19,396,926 


16,681,009 


18,627,120 



{a) Includes India's exports to Europe, America, Japan, etc., and mill con- 
sumption in India increased or decreased by excess or loss of stock at Bombay. 

(6) Receipts into Europe from Brazil, Smyrna, Peru, West Indies, etc., and 
Japan and China cotton used in Japanese mills. 

These figures, revised to December i, 1909, from statistics fur- 
nished by the Commercial and Financial Chronicle, show the 
world's commercial cotton so far as known from reliable data. 
There is in addition considerable cotton, consumed locally in India, 
Brazil, and other countries, which does not enter into commercial 
channels and so cannot be determined. It is thought that 600,000 
bales are worked each year on hand looms in the homes of the 
people in India, and that 149,000 bales each year are consumed 
locally in Brazil, but the data as to this local consumption are very 
indefinite. Little is known also to-day of the production and 
consumption of cotton in China. 

The world's cotton crop in running bales has been estimated by 
Comtelburo Limited, of London, as follows : 



Countries 


1908-09 


1907-08 


1906-07 


1905-06 


1904-05 


America 
India 
Egypt 
Brazil, etc. 


13,829,000 

4,665,000 

910,000 

t3,063,000 


11,582,000 

4,445,000 

965,000 

t2,867,000 


13,550,000 

5,197,000 

926,000 

t2,803,000 


11,320,000 

4,797,000 

798,000 

t2,542,000 


13,557,000 

4,061,000 

843,000 

t2, 172 ,000 


Total 


22,467,000 


19,859,000 


22,476,000 


19,457,000 


20,633,000 



t Including all other countries. The countries embraced in this list are also 
given by Comtelburo, together with estimates of production of each. 

The estimate of Mr. Alfred B. Shepperson of the world's crops 
in running bales for 1908-09 is 22,287,000 bales. This corre- 
sponds closely with the estimate of Comtelburo for the same period. 

The estimates in running bales include under " Brazil, etc." the 
local consumption in Brazil, India, and other countries, and China's 
rumored production. They are, therefore, greater than the first 
estimate above, but the difference is more apparent than real. 

15 



EGYPTIAN COTTON 

The entire importation of Egyptian Cotton into the 
United States, expressed in bales of 500 lbs. net wt. for 
the past ten seasons, ending August 31st, is as follows: 



1908-1909 145,361 

1907-1908 126,102 

1906-1907 178,069 

1905-1906 119,890 

1904-1905 110,573 



1903-1904 80,107 

1902-1903 131,799 

1901-1902 166,617 

1900-1901 . . . . . 87,441 

1899-1900 122,009 



PERUVIAN COTTON 

The entire importation of Peruvian Cotton into the 
United States, expressed in bales of 500 lbs. net wt. for 
ten seasons, ending August 31st, is as follows: 



1908-1909 12,811 

1907-1908 5,296 

1906-1907 8,900 

1905-1906 6,337 

1904-1905 9,748 



1903-1904 7,462 

1902-1903 9,744 

1901-1902 10,398 

1900-1901 9,612 

1899-1900 8,196 



SEA ISLAND COTTON 

The crops and movement of Sea Island Cotton, expressed 
in bales of 500 lbs. net wt. for the past ten seasons, ending 
August 31st, are as follows: 





Crop 


Foreign Exports 


Ameri- 


Season 






South 








Total 


CON- 




Florida 


Georgia 


Caro- 


Total 


Great 


Conti- 


Ex- 


SUMP- 








lina 




Britain 


nent 


ports 


TIONa 


1908-09- 


33,701 


31,162 


12,138 


77,001 


14,593 


6,052 


20,646 


57,061 


1907-08- 


33,490 


21,606 


10,190 


65,286 


18,198 


7,708 


25,906 


37,374 


1906-07- 


18,729 


19,722 


6,435 


44,886 


12,160 


4,231 


16,391 


28,881 


1905-06- 


24,302 


58,298 


10,970 


93,570 


24,027 


7,382 


31,410 


63,138 


1904-05- 


30,298 


39,757 


9,675 


79,730 


24,666 


6,056 


30,722 


50,045 


1903-04- 


22,404 


31,476 


7,487 


61,367 


19,350 


5,706 


25,056 


34,862 


1902-03- 


22,149 


49,961 


9,998 


82,108 


35,483 


7,782 


43,266 


40,419 


1901-02- 


17,058 


38,870 


7,008 


62,936 


20,338 


5,160 


25,498 


34,920 


1900-01- 


19,834 


42,362 


6,695 


68,891 


21,162 


4,428 


25,590 


44,338 


1899-00- 


23,501 


48,295 


6,248 


78,044 


30,623 


6,406 


37,029 


39,634 



a The column of " American Consumption " in this table includes burnt in the 
United States. 



In this compilation, the Sea Island bales (400 lbs.), the Egyptian bales (750 lbs.), 
and the Peruvian bales (185 lbs.) have all been converted into bales of the net 
weight of 500 lbs. each. 

16 



THE PRINCIPAL COTTONS 



X HE different kinds of cotton in general commercial use 
in this country may be briefly mentioned. They are Upland 
Cotton, forming the great bulk of cotton grown in the 
United States ; Sea Island Cotton, from our southeastern 
coast ; Egyptian Cotton, from the valley of the Nile ; and 
Peruvian Cotton, from South America. 

Of the 13,800,000 bales of Upland Cotton produced last 
season, we retained for use in this country but 5,400,000 
bales. Our consumption of Sea Island, Egyptian, and 
Peruvian Cotton is indicated in the opposite table. 

Sea Island Cotton, grown almost exclusively in Florida, 
Georgia, and South Carolina, is our finest cotton, having a 
silky staple from ly^ inches to 2^ inches in length. For 
yarns numbering over 120, and for the best cloths, Sea Island 
Cotton is indispensable. It commands a price from 50 to 
100 per cent above that of Egyptian Cotton. 

Egyptian Cotton has a strong, lustrous staple i y^ inches 
to I ^ inches long. It is used for purposes for which Upland 
Cotton would not be suitable, and for which Sea Island 
Cotton is too expensive. It is used extensively for fine 
underwear and hosiery, much of it going into so-called 
" Balbriggan " goods. 

Peruvian Cotton, of the kind imported into this country, 
is of the " tree cotton " variety and has a rough, kinky 
staple. It resembles wool so closely that it is called " vege- 
table wool," and can be distinguished from wool only by 
microscopical examination. Peruvian Cotton is not used 
in cotton mills, but is manufactured in combination with 
wool into certain grades of woolen fabrics. 

17 



WILLIAM WHITMAN &> CO. 

SOLE SELLING AGENTS 
FOR 

Arlington Mills of Lawrence, Massachusetts 

WORSTED DRESS GOODS, WORSTED TOPS, WORSTED YARNS, 
COMBED COTTON YARNS, MERCERIZED YARNS 

The Eddystone Manufacturing Company of 

Eddystone^ Pennsylvania 

SIMPSON-EDDYSTONE PRINTS, GOBELIN ART DRAPERIES, 
PRINTED COTTON FABRICS 

Manomet Mills of New Bedford, Massachusetts 

COMBED COTTON YARNS 

Nashawena Mills of New Bedford, Massachusetts 

PLAIN AND FANCY COTTON FABRICS, COTTON AND SILK MIX- 
TURES, CONTRACT SPECIALTIES 

Nonquitt Spinning Company of New Bedford, 

Massachusetts 

COMBED COTTON YARNS 

and for a number of smaller cotton cloth and 
cotton yarn mills. 

In addition, William Whitman ^ Company, as mer- 
chants, purchase outright and distribute the products 
of a large number of other cotton mills. 



INTRODUCTION 



W E hope that this Httle book may not only 
interest our customers and business associates, but 
may make them .even more familiar than they now 
are with the policy of management and the nature 
and scope of our business as a whole. 

The successful development of the business is 
due largely to the co-operation of our friends among 
buyers, consumers, and associates. If this little 
book will help to promote that spirit of co-operation 
and to spread its influence among new friends and 
associates, it will have served its purpose. 

The policy of the firm of William Whitman & 
Company has always been to avoid any duplication 
or conflict of the products of the diff^erent manu- 
facturing concerns which the firm serves as exclu- 
sive selling agent. The whole business has been 
organized and developed in accordance with this 
principle. The output of one mill is not brought 
into competition with that of another. The various 
manufacturing activities have been so co-ordinated 
that the products of the difi^erent mills represented, 
instead of duplicating, supplement each other all 
along the line. 

The result is that to-day the products marketed 
by the firm cover an unusually broad range, selling 
efficiency is promoted, as the selling of one product 

.19 



INTRODUCTION 

naturally leads to the selling of another, and the 
mills gain because they are enabled to specialize on 
the particular products for which they are best 
adapted. The machinery of each mill is kept con- 
tinuously employed in the manufacture of those 
things which it can produce at the least cost and to 
the best advantage. 

The firm acts as sole selling agent for the 
Arlington Mills of Lawrence, Massachusetts, The 
Eddystone Manufacturing Company of Eddystone, 
Pennsylvania, the Manomet Mills of New Bedford, 
Massachusetts, the Nonquitt Spinning Company 
and the Nashawena Mills of the same city, and also 
for a number of smaller cotton cloth and cotton 
yarn mills. The firm also acts as a dealer in cotton 
yarns, purchasing large quantities of yarn outright 
from the spinners and distributing them through 
the channels of the trade to a wide range of cus- 
tomers. The yarns so purchased and distributed 
supplement and are supplemented by the products 
of the above mills. The different ranges of product 
strengthen the general line that is handled and so 
strengthen each other. 

The mills represented and the firm co-operating 
with them give steady employment to more than 
fourteen thousand persons, whose combined efforts 
are constantly directed toward producing and dis- 
tributing materials that are indispensable for the 
clothing of the people. It is an inspiration to realize 
that in return for what he or she receives every one 

20 



INTRODUCTION 

of these wage earners is contributing toward the 
common good. The dignity of labor and the privi- 
lege of work should be appreciated by those who 
have at heart the general welfare of this country. 
The belief that labor is dignified and that to work 
is and should be a privilege is one of the greatest 
sources of our energy as a people. The dignity of 
labor and the privilege of work are the keynotes of 
our remarkable industry. 

The firm of William Whitman & Company 
markets a large quantity and a great variety of tex- 
tile fabrics. These fabrics are made from wool, 
cotton, and silk, and mixtures of these three prin- 
cipal raw materials. A maximum output of more 
than one hundred and sixty-five million running 
yards of cloth passes from the looms in the course 
of a single year — enough to form a strand from 
two to about five feet in width, winding three 
times around the world, with many thousand miles 
of cloth to spare. The raw wools, cottons, and 
silks required for this output of fabric are drawn 
from all the continents and embody almost all 
grades and varieties. These raw materials repre- 
sent great value when spun into yarns and further 
worked by patient intricate processes into all-wool 
cloths, superior worsted fabrics, silk-filled goods, 
printed fabrics, and the many costly cloths described 
in later chapters. 

The quantity of fabric woven each year is impres- 
sive, but it measures only a part of the business. 

21 



INTRODUCTION 

In addition to cloth the firm markets large quan- 
tities of worsted yarn, of cotton yarn, and of the 
semi-manufactured article known as "tops" — wool 
combed and fully prepared for the spinner. The 
output of yarns and tops, most of which are sold 
to other manufacturers of textiles, even exceeds the 
output of cloth in point of value. 

The yearly consumption of the wools and cottons 
converted into these diversified products is in excess 
of one hundred and seventy-five million pounds. 
The wool that is used in a year is equivalent to 
about one-sixth of the entire wool clip of the United 
States. The fleeces of thirty-three thousand sheep 
are consumed in the manufacturing operations of a 
single day. Forty-four mills of the capacity of the 
Arlington Mills alone could absorb the wool product 
of the entire world. The cotton used each year, in 
number of pounds, is even greater than the corre- 
sponding quantity of wool. The kinds of cotton 
and the grades of wool in this vast consumption 
will be mentioned in later chapters. 

The business of the firm is organized or arranged 
in five large departments : 

I. Dress Goods Department. \/ 

1. Worsted Yarn Department. 

3. Cotton Yarn Department. 

4. Printed Goods Department. 

5. Gray Goods Department. 

In order to conduct a business of such diversity 
and magnitude a harmonious and efficient organiza- 

22 



INTRODUCTION 

tion is indispensable. The organization in general, 
and some of its purposes, will be outlined in the 
subsequent discussion of the several departments or 
subdivisions of the business. 

In discussing the different departments the par- 
ticular products marketed by each department and 
the varied uses of those products will also be 
described. 



23 



ARLINGTON MILLS 

Incorporated in l86j, under the latvs of the Common- 
ivealth of Massachusetts 

Capital Stock, $8,000,000 

Executive Offices . . . . 78 Chauncy St., Boston 
Mills . . Lawrence and Methuen, Massachusetts 

OFFICERS 

William Whitman . . . . . President 
Franklin W. Hobbs Treasurer 



DIRECTORS 



George E. Bullard 
Livingston Gushing 
William F. Draper 
Robert H. Gardiner 
James R. Hooper 



Franklin W. Hobbs 
George E. Kunhardt 
Charles W. Leonard 
Richard S. Russell 
George M. Whitin 



William Whitman 

Clerk of the Corporation 
C. Eaton Pierce 



Resident Agent 

William D. Hartshorne 

Lawrence, Massachusetts 

Transfer Agent 

The New England Trust Company 

135 Devonshire Street, Boston, Massachusetts 



*f 




DRESS GOODS DEPARTMENT 



± HIS department of the firm of William Whitman 
& Company markets all the dress goods manufactured 
by the Arlington Mills. The Arlington Mills began 
the manufacture of worsted fabrics almost half a century 
ago. At that time the industry in America was con- 
ducted under severe difficulties — a high standard of 
perfection had already been attained by foreign manu- 
facturers, and the best worsted fabrics worn in this 
country were almost all imported from Europe. Not 
only were there few men in this country who were 
skilled in the various branches of worsted manufactur- 
ing, but there was also a distinct prejudice against 
American-made goods. Through persistent effort, 
however, and especially through obtaining the best 
designers, weavers, spinners, and dyers trained in the 
art, the Arlington Mills gradually brought the pro- 
ducts of their looms to compare favorably with the 
best products of Europe. 

This progressive course has been steadily continued. 
Machinery has been perfected and the highest skill 
and experience secured, until to-day the worsted dress 
fabrics for women's and children's garments made by 
the Arlington Mills are nowhere excelled in those 
particular lines they manufacture. 

In order to maintain and improve this standard of 
quality, and strengthen this prestige, the mills have 
a representative abroad who visits the great centres of 
fashion, and so keeps the home office informed as to 
the new creations of foreign designers and the trend 

25 



DRESS GOODS DEPARTMENT 

of ideas among those whose profession it is to fix or 
follow fashion. This knowledge is supplemented by 
the efforts of a corps of competent designers in the 
mills and in the offices of William Whitman & Com- 
pany. The mills have agents also all over the world to 
select and purchase the special wools best adapted for 
each particular fabric. These agents attend all of 
the great wool sales in this country and in Europe, 
Australia, and South America. 

■Nearly all of the varieties of combing wools grown 
in the world are used — Australian merino and cross- 
bred wools ; South American merino and cross-bred 
wools ; Cape merino wools ; merino and cross-bred 
wools grown in the United States and territories ; the 
lustrous wools of pure English blood; mohair from 
Asiatic Turkey, and alpaca from the Andes. Mohair, 
the hair of the Angora goat, supplied largely by Asiatic 
Turkey, is used in fine woven fabrics requiring a bril- 
liant lustre or sheen. Alpaca, the hair of the South 
American llama, which comes largely from the moun- 
tains of Peru, is made into black fabrics of light weight 
and is largely used for brilliantines and linings. 

At first dress fabrics were sold by the firm almost 
entirely to the large dry goods jobbing houses, by 
which they were distributed to retailers throughout the 
country. The fabrics were made in widths varying 
from 36 to 50 inches, and were sold by retailers over 
the counter to their customers. These materials were 
either made up at home or were taken by the purchaser 
to a tailor or dressmaker to be made into garments. 

A gradual change, however, has developed in the 
method of distribution. There has come a great de- 
mand for ready-to-wear garments, a demand that has 
increased wonderfully within the past tew years. The 

26 



^ 




"Sk^ 



THE ANGORA GOAT (FROM WHICH MOHAIR IS OBTAINED) 
ASIA MINOR 



DRESS GOODS DEPARTMENT 

manufacturers of ready-to-wear clothing buy their own 
fabrics, make up the garments from these fabrics, and 
sell them through the usual channels of trade. These 
manufacturers use a vast amount of worsted dress goods 
every year, and for this particular trade special fabrics 
have to be produced. These fabrics have to have a 
uniform width and to be of such a character that they can 
be handled in great quantities. The width most suit- 
able for this trade is the uniform width of 54 inches. 

In order to meet the demand of this particular trade, 
known as the manufacturing or cutting-up trade, the 
Arlington Mills have equipped themselves to produce 
dress fabrics of a special kind, put up in a special way, 
and adapted directly for the needs of the manufacturer 
of ready-to-wear garments. A special sub-department 
has been created by the firm of William Whitman & 
Company to distribute these fabrics most efficiently. 

The whole Dress Goods Department is now organ- 
ized to meet satisfactorily the demands of the jobbing 
trade and the manufacturers of ready-to-wear clothing. 
The greatest care and thought are given to the creation 
of styles, to the construction of cloths, and to the other 
requirements of each particular trade. 

The manufacturing trade is large and steadily grow- 
ing, as we have stated. It must be borne in mind, how- 
ever, that out of the wide variety of dress fabrics that 
are manufactured, only a portion are suitable for ready- 
made garments. The dressmaker, both domestic and 
professional, is still and will continue to be a very im- 
portant factor. The fabrics that are consumed by the 
dressmakers of the country are all distributed through 
the large dry goods jobbing houses. They are vast 
in quantity, and the great business of retailing fabrics 
over the counter is sure to continue as heretofore. 

27 



DRESS GOODS DEPARTMENT 

The dress goods of the ArHngton Mills fall naturally 
into two distinct classes when regarded from the stand- 
point of fashion — Staples and Fancies. Staples are 
those fabrics which are made of the same construction 
year in and year out. They vary only in coloring, to 
meet the changes of fashion. 

The Staples in which the Arlington Mills specialize are 
Brilliantines, Sicilians, Mohairs, Imperial Serges, Storm 
Serges, Cheviots, Panamas, Batistes, Taffetas, Voiles, 
Nun's Veilings, Cashmeres, Shepherd Checks, etc. 

Fancies include all kinds of novelties. In one class 
of these novelties the different effects are produced 
through variation of weave, in another class princi- 
pally through variation of color, and in still another 
class through variations of color and weave, or through 
odd intermixtures of the materials going into their 
construction. The class in which effects are produced 
through the weave includes Berbers, Brocades, Broca- 
telles, Crispettes, Melroses, Hopsackings, etc. The 
class in which the effects are produced largely through 
coloring includes Stripes, Checks, Plaids, Melanges, 
Mixtures, etc. The third class includes fabrics so novel 
in their makeup that the names applied to them change 
from time to time and have no established significance. 
The names are as changeable as the fabrics themselves. 
In general. Fancies or Novelties comprise that great 
variety of fabrics in vogue for a time, but for which the 
demand for any particular style is transitory. They 
change from year to year, according to the dictates of 
fashion. 

It is necessary, therefore, to anticipate in a measure 
what particular styles or constructions will be popular in 
the trade during any given season. In this connection 
the representative of the mills who travels through the 

28 



DRESS GOODS DEPARTMENT 

principal cities of Europe keeps the home office in- 
formed of what the fashions are abroad. Although 
to-day this country is growing more and more independ- 
ent of Europe as to style, nevertheless it is true that 
the dressmakers and tailors of Europe have a great deal 
of influence over fashions in this country. What the 
foreign dressmakers are doing, therefore, must be taken 
into consideration and weighed with other information 
in order properly to anticipate what the trade is likely 
to demand. 

From the manufacturer's standpoint — that is, from 
the standpoint of one who considers the method of con- 
struction and the materials that go into the different 
fabrics — the Arlington Mills dress goods may be clas- 
sified under three general heads : Piece-Dyed Fabrics, 
Cross-Dyed Fabrics, and Yarn-Dyed Fabrics. 

Piece-Dyed Fabrics are woven with the yarns (the 
separate threads that are wrought together to make the 
fabric) in their gray or natural state. They are then 
cleansed and dyed in the piece to such colors as are 
required. They are woven in plain weaves in a great 
variety of twills, stripes, and figures, all the way from 
a plain spot to an elaborate brocade. These fabrics 
may be made wholly of worsted yarns, or of worsted 
yarns in combination with cotton yarns, or of worsted 
yarns in combination with cotton yarns that have been 
put through the mercerizing process to look like silk, 
or of worsted yarns with silk yarns or wool yarns. 
The principal fabrics in this classification are : Imperial 
Serges, Storm Serges, Cheviots, Panamas, Veilings, 
Prunellas, Whipcords, Melroses, Poplins, Venetians, 
Coverts, Satins, Batistes, Taffetas, Voiles, Nun's Veil- 
ings, Canvases, Grenadines, Albatrosses, Crepes, 
Rainproof cloths. Cashmeres, Silk-Warp Henriettas, 

29 



DRESS GOODS DEPARTMENT 



and, in fact, an endless variety of plain and fancy 
Suitings. 

Cross-Dyed Fabrics are woven with black or colored 
cotton warps — that is, the yarns or threads that run 
lengthwise in the fabrics — and wool or worsted filling 
— that is, the yarns or threads that run across the 
fabrics. After being woven, these fabrics are dyed in 
the piece. The cotton does not take the wool dye, but 
retains its original color. This class of work is more 
generally used in what are known as Mohair, Alpaca, 
and Lustre fabrics. This process is adopted instead 
of subjecting the goods to a cotton-dye bath after being 
woven, because in this way the natural brilliancy of the 
Lustre wool. Mohair, or Alpaca in the filling is not 
impaired. The cotton-dye bath is liable to destroy the 
lustre, and for this reason a part of the goods — that 
is, the cotton portion — is dyed before the weaving 
takes place. The principal cross-dyed fabrics are Bril- 
liantines. Alpacas, Mohairs, Florentines, Glaces, Cotton- 
Warp Taffetas, Batistes, Serges and Cashmeres, Crisp- 
ettes. Fancy Lenos, Fancy Waistings, and Rainproof 
cloths. They have the same variety of weaves and 
patterns as have piece-dyed goods. The Arlington 
Mills have made a specialty of cross-dyed fabrics, 
which form a large part of their product. 

Yarn-Dyed Fabrics are woven from dyed yarns or 
from yarns spun from dyed wool. This process is 
particularly applicable to Shepherd Checks, Mixtures, 
Melanges, Fancy Checks and Plaids, and Fancy Cloak- 
ings and Suitings. The box loom is used in the man- 
ufacture of these cloths more than in other cloths. 
The desired effects can be produced in all-wool fabrics, 
cotton-warp fabrics, or in fabrics made of a mixture of 
cotton and wool. The different effects, however, are 

30 



. i'H> 




THE ALPACA, PERU 



DRESS GOODS DEPARTMENT 

obtained in this class of merchandise more through 
skilful variations of color and pattern than through 
changes in construction of the cloth. ^ 

Staple Fabrics and Fancies or Novelties all fall within 
the above classification. They are either yarn-dyed, 
piece-dyed, or cross-dyed. The Arlington Mills dress 
fabrics are now made in weights from 3 to 1 2 ounces a 
yard and in widths varying from 28 inches to ^6 inches. 
These fabrics are made to meet the requirements of 
the great masses of the people, and the fabrics are dis- 
tributed widely throughout the United States. Perhaps 
the most characteristic feature of this dress goods 
branch of the Arlington Mills business is the making 
of specialties for the trade on orders, which have here- 
tofore been made solely in Europe. This business has' 
recently grown to large proportions. Importers and' 
others are enabled to place orders for novelties in cloths, 
with the understanding that the same article, or any 
article so closely resembling it as to conflict with its sale,j 
shall not be made by the Arlington Mills for othei| 
houses. In this way the individuality of each firm, as 
to taste or design, can be reserved to its own use or 
advantage. 

Dress goods, strictly speaking, are made only for 
women and children. The Dress Goods Department, 
however, markets other fabrics of the Arlington Mills 
which are not strictly dress goods. The Arlington 
Mills are especially equipped to manufacture linings 
for men's coats and suits. For light-weight linings, for 
ordinary suits, cotton-warp or Alpaca or plain linings 
are used. In order to obtain the highest lustre these 
linings are made from dyed cotton warps, and filling 
made with Alpaca, Mohair, or highly lustrous wool. 
They are woven in plain weaves, and the very greatest ^ 

31 



DRESS GOODS DEPARTMENT 

care has to be taken in dyeing and finishing them to 
preserve their brilliant lustre. 

For the heavier linings a cotton-warp serge is used. 
These are manufactured from the same materials as the 
lighter linings, but the weave is made up of a variety 
of twills instead of being plain. Great quantities of 
these serges are used wherever a lining of some weight 
is required. Success in the manufacture of this fabric 
rests almost entirely with the finish. The Arlington 
Mills, however, are among the few in this country that 
are fitted to finish successfully this class of merchan- 
dise. Another class of linings is used to line over- 
coatings. These linings are made in a variety of 
checks and plaids, usually woven from dyed yarns, 
either all-wool or cotton warps, or a combination of 
worsted and cotton yarns. In addition to linings the 
Arlington Mills manufacture special cloths that are put 
by the purchasers through various patented processes 
and made into automobile tops, curtains, and seat 
coverings. The extensive use of the automobile has 
created a great demand for materials suitable for these 
purposes. It has also created a demand for cloths fitted 
for garments to be worn in motoring, such as dusters, 
cloakings, raincoats, etc. The Arlington Mills have 
been making a careful study of these particular cloths 
suitable for all purposes connected with the automobile, 
and are equipped to manufacture in large quantities all 
the varieties that are required. 

The automobile cloths and the linings, as well as 
the dress goods, are distributed by the Dress Goods 
Department through the usual channels of trade which 
we have described. 



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s m o o 



WORSTED YARN DEPARTMENT 



i HIS department handles the entire production 
of the Arlington Mills in worsted yarns and in what 
are known as "tops" — already described in a pre- 
ceding chapter as wool combed and prepared for 
spinning. In addition, the Arlington Mills have 
made a specialty of combing wool on commission 
for other mills, and this work is also handled 
through this department. In the manufacture of 
worsted yarns and tops, the Arlington Mills con- 
sume practically every kind of wool grown in the 
world that is suitable for clothing purposes, from the 
finest merino Australian wool for the highest class 
of goods to the lower grades of combing wool. 

The work of the Worsted Yarn Department may 
be classified under three heads : Worsted Yarns, 
Worsted Tops, and Commission Combing. Each 
of these divisions will be separately considered. 

First, as to Worsted Yarns, it may be said that 
the production of perfect worsted yarns is probably 
the most difficult form of textile manufacture. For 
many years prior to the Civil War it was assumed 
that because of climatic and other conditions the 
spinning of these yarns could not be conducted in 
the United States. In 1854 the English worsted 
manufacturers of Bradford presented to Congress, 
through the British Minister in Washington, a 
memorial urging the reduction of the then low 
ad valorem duty of 25 per cent on worsteds for 

33 



WORSTED YARN DEPARTMENT 

the reason that they " do not come into competi- 
tion with American goods." What is more, the 
American Congress actually granted the petition of 
these foreign manufacturers and in 1857 reduced the 
duty to a point where American competition was 
believed to be impossible ! Yet there was at that 
time an impression in this country that the Ameri- 
can people had successfully established their inde- 
pendence of external authority in the Revolution 
of 1775-1783. 

Step by step, however, the successful manufacture 
of worsted yarns and fabrics has been developed in 
the United States, and one technical difficulty after 
another has been overcome by force of ingenuity 
and perseverance. The Arlington Mills, pioneers 
in this great work, are producing many million 
pounds of worsted yarns every year. An enormous 
quantity of these yarns is required by the weav- 
ing department of the mills for manufacturing the 
diverse, beautiful, and useful fabrics described in the 
preceding chapter. But over and above the con- 
sumption of the Arlington looms themselves another 
very great quantity of worsted yarn, produced by 
the Arlington spindles, is available for sale to other 
manufacturers. These yarns that are thus sold 
enter into almost every kind of worsted cloth. They 
are purchased not only by other mills manufactur- 
ing ladies' and children's dress goods, but also by 
the manufacturers of men's wear. They are utilized 
in the production of underwear, hosiery, sweaters, 
and braids. The yarns are spun in practically all 
qualities and degrees of fineness, and are delivered 

34 



WORSTED YARN DEPARTMENT 

In the gray, in solid colors, in fancy mixtures, or in 
doubles and twists. The following list of worsted 
yarns that are produced for sale by the Arlington 
Mills to manufacturers who do not do their own 
spinning will serve to illustrate the broad range of 
choice offered to purchasers. 

ARLINGTON MILLS WORSTED YARN 
SPECIALTIES 

ENGLISH SYSTEM SPINNING 

Two OR More Ply Gray 
Warp and Filling. 
Delivered in Skeins, on Spools or Dresser Spools. 

Single Gray 

Warp and Filling. 

Delivered on Filling Bobbins, Quiller Bobbins, Paper 

Tubes, Cones, or Dresser Spools. 

Single Slub Dyed Colors and Mixtures 

Fancy, Black and Gray, Black and Bleached White 

Mixtures, and Jaspers. 

Delivered in same forms as Single Gray. 

Two OR More Ply Slub Dyed Colors and Mixtures 
Fancy, Black and Gray, and Black and Bleached 
Mixtures, Jaspers, Double,, and Twist. 
Delivered in same forms as Two Ply Gray yarns. 

Single Knitting Yarns 

Gray, Black and Gray, and Black and Bleached 

Mixtures, Astrachan, and Boucle. 

Delivered in the same form as Single Gray already 

enumerated. 

35 



WORSTED YARN DEPARTMENT 

Two OR More Ply Knitting Yarns 

Same as above and in addition thereto Floss, Saxony, 
Spanish, and Germantown. 
Delivered in the Gray in Skeins. 

Single Turkey Mohair 
Gray, Flyer Spun. 
Delivered on Spinning Bobbins or Paper Tubes. 

Two OR More Ply Turkey Mohair 
Gray, Flyer Spun. 
Delivered in Skeins, on Spools and Dresser Spools. 

FRENCH SYSTEM SPINNING 
Single 

Gray, Jasper, Silver, Blue, and Light Fancy Mixtures. 

Delivered on Cops and Cones for Knitting. 

Gray Warp and Filling Yarns. 

Delivered on Cops, Cones, Spools, and Dresser Spools. 

Two OR More Ply 
Gray. 

Delivered in Skeins, on Spools, Quiller Bobbins, and 
Dresser Spools. / 

The Arlington Mills worsted yarns are used 
by manufacturers of all descriptions of men's 
wear goods, women's and children's dress 
goods, women's and children's underwear and 
hose, upholstery, plushes, sweaters, braids, and 
trimmings. 

The fancy colored yarns for men's wear goods 
spun by the Arlington Mills enjoy deservedly a 
reputation unsurpassed by those of any other 
American or European manufacturers. Yarns are 
delivered in skeins or on dresser spools, five-inch 



WORSTED YARN DEPARTMENT 

spools, spinning bobbins, quiller bobbins, cones, 
tubes, beams, or in any other form required by the 
purchasers. Customers have the security of 
knowing that the yarns which they are buying are 
of standard grades, and that the wool used to pro- 
duce one quality of yarn is the same from one year 
to another. There is no need of continual sam- 
pling to test and verify the quality, and reorders are 
certain to bring yarns of the same even excellence. 

The Arlington yarns are spun from conditioned 
top, so that no excess of moisture is present, and the 
percentage of pure olive oil used is uniform and as 
low as is consistent with the best results. The 
immense volume of production of the Arlington 
Mills is of itself a guarantee of sustained perfection 
of quality, and this immense volume permits of 
larger and prompter deliveries when these are de- 
sired than small mills could possibly supply. A 
new worsted yarn mill in the Arlington group will 
increase by fifty per cent the already huge capacity 
of the establishment. 

Just as the Arlington Mills make not only all 
the worsted yarn required for their looms, but a very 
great amount of yarn for sale to other manufacturers, 
so they also make all the worsted tops required for 
their spindles, and have a quantity besides, which 
is marketed through the Worsted Yarn Depart- 
ment of William Whitman & Company. From 
the immense top mill of the Arlington Mills a vast 
product is distributed of these tops, that convenient 
and valuable form of semi-manufactured wool, well 
described as "the earliest stage in which wool can 

37 



WORSTED YARN DEPARTMENT 

be traded in, as corn or cotton are traded in, with > 
any certainty of uniformity in the article." 

The Arlington Mills were the first in America to 
recognize in any large, bold way the importance of 
this particular form of specialization in wool manu- 
facture. This was as far back as 1894, when the 
industry in the United States was about to go 
temporarily upon a free wool basis and there was 
no certainty as to the amount of protection that 
would eventually be given to the manufacturer. 
It was in an exceedingly dark and troublous era, 
when courage was a rare quality, that the Arlington 
Mills began the evolution of the present great and 
prosperous production of tops, which has been 
brought now to a basis of scientific uniformity and 
precision unexcelled in the most ancient seats of 
textile industry in Europe. 

The achievements of the Arlington Mills in 
this direction are two-fold — first, in developing 
a superior process for the thorough and economical 
cleansing of the wool to be combed into tops, and 
second, in establishing the present sound, practical, 
equitable basis on which tops are sold in America. 
In both of these undertakings the Arlington Mills 
have been the unquestioned pioneers, and the advan- 
tages of these notable achievements are now made 
available to all their customers. 

All of the wool cornbed by the Arlington man- 
agement, either for the tops that are to be utilized 
for its own spinning purposes, or for the other 
tops that are to be sold to other manufacturers, or 
the wool of dealers or of other manufacturers sent 

38 



.^ 



WORSTED YARN DEPARTMENT 

to the mills for combing on commission — all this 
wool secures the benefits of the famous naphtha 
solvent process of cleansing, by which the grease is 
removed from the wool without any necessity of 
washing with soap or chemicals. This is a patented 
process, owned and installed exclusively by the i/ 
Arlington Mills, the perfected result of many years 
of skilled and exhaustive testing and experiment. 

Under this process the raw, unwashed wool, full 
not only of grease but of dirt, is subjected in a 
thoroughly safe and effective way to the action of 
the naphtha solvent. This removes the true grease 
of the wool, leaving, however, the natural alkali of 
the wool, which forms a natural soap with a base of 
potash. Then the application of warm — not hot — 
water suffices to cleanse the wool of dirt and to pro- 
duce a fibre with all its impurities eliminated and its 
strength unimpaired, perfectly adapted for combing / 
and manufacturing. 

This wonderful process, which the Arlington\ 
Mills exclusively employ, makes it possible to secure 
an increased amount of clean wool from a given 
quantity of unwashed wool. The fibre comes out 
in better and stronger condition than from the old 
processes, the cost of commercial soaps and alkalies 
is dispensed with, and there is a further consid- 
erable gain in the saving of valuable by-products, 
which can be marketed. The wool cleansed under 
these improved conditions produces a superior 
quality of top and yarn, softer, easier to work, 
and more desirable in every way than the pro- ; 
duct of the crude, old-fashioned methods followed / 

39 



WORSTED YARN DEPARTMENT 

even now by many manufacturers in America and 
Europe. 

Eternal vigilance is the price of successful, modern 
textile manufacturing. The Arlington Mills have 
led the way in another important new departure — 
the study and investigation of the hygroscopic quali- 
ties of wool, so indispensable to the fixing of a 
proper standard for the buying and seUing of tops. 
One peculiar characteristic of the wool fibre is that 
it is capable of absorbing a large quantity of water 
without a perceptible change of appearance. This 
moisture enters the minute spaces between the cells 
of the fibre and even permeates the substance of 
which these cells are composed. Wool exposed to 
damp air will absorb in a short time from lo to 20 
per cent of additional moisture and, of course, 
increase in weight by that amount. 

Fifteen years ago Mr. William D. Hartshorne, 
then the superintendent of the worsted department 
and now the agent of the Arlington Mills, conducted 
some interesting and exact experiments of great 
scientific interest, which showed that the moisture 
in a skein of worsted yarn varied from a little over 
7 per cent to 35 per cent of its entire weight in the 
course of a year, and, indeed, often from 15 to 20 
per cent in twenty-four hours. Mr. Hartshorne, 
who is to-day recognized as the foremost authority 
in the United States on the hygroscopic properties 
of yarns and fabrics and on atmospheric conditions 
in textile manufacturing, conducted an elaborate 
series of calculations, most precisely carried out, and 
determined the substantial accuracy of the allowance 

40 



WORSTE'D YARN DEPARTMENT 

made by the Arlington Mills, and now accepted by 
other manufacturers, of 15 per cent for what is called 
" regain " from bone-dry in the sale of tops, a stand- 
ard that gives authority and permanency to an im- 
portant division of the textile trade. The Arlington 
Mills and Mr. Hartshorne in this undertaking have 
rendered a large and enduring service to the entire 
industry. Here is a signal example of the way in 
which, in our modern age, science is made to con- 
tribute to the evolution of business and the diffusion 
of prosperity. 

All of the great and advanced facilities of the 
Arlington Mills are placed at the disposal of wool 
dealers and manufacturers who send their wool to 
the mills for combing on commission. They are 
allowed all of the advantages of the naphtha sol- 
vent process, which yields to them a larger amount 
of top from a given amount of wool than can be 
procured by any other process — and not only a 
larger amount of top, but top in better condition 
for successful drawing and spinning. 

This commission combing has become a large and 
constantly increasing factor in the business of the 
Arlington Mills. Any combing wool, including 
the grades used in the manufacture of carpet yarns, 
may be shipped to the mills, where it will be sorted, 
cleansed by the patent solvent process, and carded 
and combed with the same scrupulous care and high 
efficiency and economy that characterize the prepa- 
ration of the Arlington wools. These facilities, 
possible only in a very great establishment, are 
offered to worsted spinners and dealers throughout 

41 



WORSTED YARN DEPARTMENT 

the country. When wool is combed on commission 
the resultant products,including top, noils, and wastes, 
are returned to the owner. Such a low charge is 
made for this work that it is often more economical 
for manufacturers to send their wool to be combed 
as they require it than to install their own combing 
machinery. 

It is usually estimated that of the total cost of a 
worsted spinning plant, at least three-fifths repre- 
sents the machinery requisite for the preliminary 
processes of preparing the wool for the spinning 
frame itself The spinner who regularly utilizes 
the advantages of a great central combing plant like 
that of the Arlington Mills saves the fixed charges 
upon a very large investment in machinery and the 
cost of a long holding of his raw materials. 




TRADE ^^^ MARK 



Ueg. U. S. Pat. Office 

ARLINGTON MILLS 



42 



THE WORLD'S COTTON MILLS 




{According to latest kno'wn. estimates^ 


Country 


Mills 


Spindles 


Looms 


Consumption 
Bales 


Hands 
Employed 


Gt. Britain 1909 


1977 


57,026,422 


739,382 


3,426,000 


620,000 


U. S. North 1908 


1067 


17,543,752 


+340,682 


2,371,200 


tl97,137 


U. S. South 1909 


727 


10,370,333 


214,716 


2,573,524 


+121,000 


Germany 1909 


372 


10,162,872 


+230,200 


1,979,958 


375,000 


Russia 1909 


94 


6,700,000 


+154,577 


1,495,000 


350,000 


^ Poland 1909 


43 


1,249,497 


*12,000 


300,000 


*35,000 


Finland, etc. 1909 


13 


424,982 


— 


46,000 


— 


France 1908 


430 


6,731,316 


110,000 


890,000 


95,000 


Austria 1908 


139 


4,412,072 


+144,000 


860,000 


127,000 


Hungary 1905 


17 


250,000 


4,815 


48,000 


8,000 


Switzerland 1909 


68 


1,491,531 


19.594 


117,000 


19,000 


Italy 1909 


495 


4,500,000 


+120,000 


700,000 


132,000 


Spain 1909 


257 


1,800,000 


55,000 


• 330,000 


70,000 


Portugal 1909 


35 


450,000 


8,000 


80,000 


25,000 


Belgium 1909 


46 


1,200,000 


+24,000 


160,000 


15,000 


Holland 1909 


50 


464,890 


29,860 


77,000 


26,000 


Sweden 1909 


35 


420,000 


11,000 


90,000 


— 


Norway 1909 


12 


86,576 


2,329 


17,000 


2,625 


Denmark 1909 


5 


77,644 


— . 


25,000 


1,000 


Rumania 1899 


— 


40,000 


— 


— 


— 


Turkey 1908 


13 


100,000 


— 


26,000 


— 


Greece 1906 


— 


97,000 


2,100 


15,000 


— 


Egypt 1908 


2 


36,000 


506 


3,000 


600 


Asia Minor 1909 


5 


130,000 


— 


25,000 


— 


India 1908 


241 


5,756,020 


67,920 


1,991,500 


221,915 


China 1907 


28 


750,000 


2,200 


200,000 


— 


Japan 1908 


82 


1,695,879 


9,626 


1,124,787 


76,566 


Indo-China 1905 


4 


64,000 


— 


— 


— 


Philippines 1905 


1 


7,420 


222 


2,000 


230 


Brazil 1908 


110 


1,300,000 


+26,928 


375,000 


— 


Argentina 1906 


2 


10,000 


3,250 


— 


— 


Peru 1904 


7 


— 


1,355 


— 


— 


Colombia 1908 


1 


6,116 


104 


800 


160 


Mexico 1908 


142 


693,842 


23,507 


160,000 


33,131 


Canada 1908 


29 


855,293 


19,265 


125,000 


10,214 


Total (estimated) 


6,549 


136,903,457 


2,377,138 


19,633,769 


2,561,578 




tine 


omplete * 1 


'revious Retu 


rns 


Comtelburo L 


imitec 


, of Londo] 
43 


1, furnish 


ss this compilation. 



MANOMET MILLS 

Incorporated in igoj, under the laivs of the 
Commonivealth of Massachusetts 

Capital Stock, |2, 000,000 

President's Office . . • . . 78 Chauncy St., Boston 
Treasurer s Office and Mills New Bedford, Massachusetts 

OFFICERS 

William Whitman President 

Arnold C. Gardner Treasurer 



directors 



William F. Draper 
Arnold C. Gardner 
Hendricks H. Whitman 



Charles W. Leonard 
George E. Kunhardt 
George M. Whitin 



William Whitman 



Clerk of the Corporation 
J. Earle Parker 



Resident Agent 
Jesse A. Knight 




- i, 

z -. 



COTTON YARN DEPARTMENT 



1 HE varied products handled by the Cotton Yarn 
Department of William Whitman & Company 
fall naturally, on a basis alike of geography and 
character, into two classes — Northern Yarns and 
Southern Yarns. The total range of these cotton 
yarns is exceptionally broad, covering practically 
every kind, number, and quality of cotton yarn com- 
mercially used in the United States. In view of this 
wide range of products, the Cotton Yarn Department 
has been skilfully organized, so that the different 
yarns, though many in number, do not conflict with 
each other. The sound, underlying principle upon 
which the business of the firm has been established 
is here, as elsewhere, inflexibly adhered to. Each 
mill produces only a certain group of specialties for 
which it is particularly fitted. There is no duplica- 
tion of product, no competition and conflict of the 
output of one mill with the output of another. The 
different products supplement each other all along 
the line. 

In describing the different Northern Yarns and 
Southern Yarns, we will follow the natural order of 
the processes involved in their manufacture. The 
simplest forms of yarn will be mentioned first, yarns 
that require a little more skill and further processes 
in their manufacture will be mentioned next, and 
so on. 

Southern Yarns are the simplest in the point of 

45 



COTTON YARN DEPARTMENT 

manufacture. These yarns are made principally 
of American cotton and for the most part are 
carded yarns. The carding process is an elemen- 
tary process required in all yarns. There is an 
infinite variety of uses for these carded yarns, which 
are cheaper than combed yarns. They are made not 
only into ordinary cotton cloth, but into carpets, 
rugs, hammocks, rope and twine, and window cords. 
They are utilized for the insulation of electrical 
cables and for the covering of fire hose. These 
carded yarns are used in enormous quantities, and 
to meet this broad and steady demand the firm does 
an extensive business in carded yarns from the 
Southern cotton mills. The yarn mills of the South, 
as a rule, are comparatively small in size, confining 
themselves usually to a few numbers, and sometimes 
to only one. William Whitman & Company market 
the entire, product of some of these mills, but in 
addition act as dealers, purchasing large quantities 
of yarn outright from the spinners and distributing 
them through the channels of their trade to a wide 
range of customers. It is the constant aim of the 
firm, in the handling of these Southern yarns, to 
deal only with the most skilful and responsible 
manufacturers, and only in such yarns as may be 
offered with the most implicit confidence. 

The Northern Yarns include the total products of 
the Manomet Mills and the Nonquitt Spinning 
Company of New Bedford, and of the cotton spin- 
ning mill of the Arlington Mills, which manufacture 
certain special combed yarns in addition to the other 
numerous textile products already mentioned. The 

46 



COTTON YARN DEPARTMENT 

Northern Yarns are all combed yarns. They are put 
through the carding process like all other yarns, but 
are subjected also to a further process of combing, 
which straightens the fibres, removes the short cotton, 
and virtually eliminates the small particles of dirt and 
leaf always found, to a certain extent, in yarns that 
have been only carded. Combed yarns require the 
better grades of cotton and the greater lengths of 
staple. They embody the highest perfection of the 
spinner's art. 

In the manufacture of these yarns, atmospheric 
conditions, s.o important, as we have shown, in the 
handling and manufacture of wool, are a vital factor. 
In a sense, the natural moisture of the air of Lanca- 
shire made it world renowned for its cotton mills, 
just as the natural air of Yorkshire made it famous 
for its woolen and worsted factories. It is true that 
to-day modern processes have been so far perfected 
that it is possible to produce and maintain by artificial 
means almost any desired degree of moisture in the 
interior of a textile mill. There are localities, how- 
ever, that are peculiarly well adapted for certain 
branches of textile manufacture. The city of New 
Bedford, Massachusetts, is one of these. Its climatic 
and general conditions are as well adapted for fine 
cotton spinning and weaving as those of any other 
locality in this country. 

Through the Cotton Yarn Department, William 
Whitman & Company market all the combed 
yarn of the Manomet Mills and of the Nonquitt 
Spinning Company, located in New Bedford, on the 
Acushnet River. These modern mills are equipped 

47 



COTTON YARN DEPARTMENT 

with every improvement for the manufacture of 
combed yarns from the better grades of American, 
Egyptian, and Sea Island cotton. The Manomet 
Mills produce in their No. i Mill the coarser 
counts, or yarns sizing from 8s to 20s, and in their 
No. 1 Mill the intermediate counts, or yarns sizing 
from 20s to 36 s. 

MANOMET MILLS COMBED YARN 
SPECIALTIES 

MULE SPUN 
Spun in numbers 8 to 26 
Single : Delivered on Cops, Cones, and Skeins. 

Made especially for underwear and hosiery. Two 
qualities, designated BB and EM. 

FRAME SPUN 

spun in numbers 18 to j6 

Single : Delivered on Cones, Tubes, Spools, and Section 

Beams, and in Skeins and Ball Warps. 
Two OR More Ply : Delivered in all of the above forms. 
Two OR More Ply Gassed : Delivered in all of the 
above forms. 
Frame Yarns are made in three qualities, desig- 
nated CC, DD, and EX. 

These Frame Spun Yarns are used in an immense 
variety of manufactures, some of which may be 
enumerated as follows : 

Silk Velvets and Plushes ; Cotton Velvets and Plushes ; 
Silk Fabrics ; Men's, Women's, and Children's Under- 
wear and Hosiery; Dress Goods; Cotton and Woolen 
Cloths, Upholstery ; Webbings, Laces, Embroideries, 
Braids, Electrical Work, Shoe Threads, Sewing 
Thread, etc., etc. 

48 



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COTTON YARN DEPARTMENT 

The Nonquitt Spinning Company confines itself 
to the finer qualities, sizing from 36s to lOOs, and 
its new mill will devote its great number of spindles 
to a range of finer numbers. 

NONQUITT SPINNING COMPANY'S 
SPECIALTIES 

FRAME SPUN COMBED COTTON YARNS 

Single, on Cones : For Knitters. 
» 

Single, in Skeins: For Knitters and Weavers. 

Single, on Spools : For Weavers, warp and weft. 

Single, on Section Beams : For Weavers. 

Single, in Ball Warps : For Weavers, warp and weft. 

Ply Yarn, on Cones : For Knitters. 

Ply Yarn, in Skeins : For Knitters, Weavers, and 

Thread Makers. 
Ply Yarn, on Spools : For Weavers, warp and weft. 
Ply Yarn, on Section Beams : For Weavers. 
Ply Yarn, in Ball Warps : For Weavers, warp and 

weft. 
Ply, Gassed on Cones : For Knitters and Weavers. 
Ply, Gassed in Skeins : For Knitters, Weavers, and 

Thread Makers. 
Ply, Gassed in Ball Warps : For Weavers, warp and 

weft. 
The above yarns are spun in all numbers from 
26 to 100 in six different standard qualities, desig- 
nated as SA, A, AX, E, EE, SI 

There is, perhaps, a tendency toward finer goods, 
a tendency that grows with the development of 
higher and higher technical skill and more and 
more efficient labor in America. The factor of 
labor cost in these fine goods is relatively large and 

49 



COTTON YARN DEPARTMENT 

for this the protective tariff affords a needed 
shield. 

It is the combed yarns of these famous mills that 
are employed in the manufacture of the higher 
grades of cloth, where strength and evenness of 
weave are indispensable. But these yarns are util- 
ized for other things than cloth. They are wrought 
into the better grades of underwear, into gloves and 
hosiery, into tapes, braids, lace curtains, and em- 
broideries. Great quantities of these combed yarns 
enter into the manufacture of the insulation of fine 
magnet and telephone wires. In combination with 
rubber they are used in elastic webbings and similar 
fabrics. In combination with silk they are used for 
velvet upholstery, umbrella coverings, linings, etc. 
One novel purpose which these combed yarns serve 
is in the manufacture of the mantles of the Wels- 
bach burner, and another is in the weaving of the 
stout tires of bicycles and automobiles. In fact, if one 
could trace in all its different lines the cotton fibre 
from the field to its final use, one would be amazed 
at its ramifications and would well believe it to be 
the most useful as well as the cheapest fibre known 
to man. 

We have considered the carded yarns of the South 
and the combed yarns of the North, which have been 
put through the carded and combing processes, and 
we may now consider a class of yarns which have 
been put through not only the carding and combing 
processes, but a still further process. The Arling- 
ton Mills, of Lawrence, Massachusetts, not only 
manufacture the finer grades of combed yarns made 

50 



COTTON YARN DEPARTMENT 

from the long staple American, Egyptian, and Sea 
Island cotton, but manufacture also certain special 
yarns which will be mentioned. Combed yarns at 
the Arlington Mills are bleached or dyed into 
colors or mercerized to meet the requirements of 
a little different trade. These bleached, dyed, or 
mercerized yarns are used for mufflers, certain 
kinds of underwear, the finest hosiery, etc. 

Specialization has enabled each of the mills repre- 
sented by William Whitman & Company to fit 
itself with the particular machinery best adapted 
for skilled and successful work in its own line. 
Moreover, for each mill are carefully selected the 
grades and varieties of cotton most fitted for its par- 
ticular purpose. This specialization finally makes 
it possible to educate the operatives along certain 
definite lines. All these factors, combined with 
competent and progressive management, naturally 
secure the maximum volume of production, the 
most exact and efficient work, and the most uniform 
standard of excellence of product. 

We have mentioned the specialties of the Mano- 
met Mills of New Bedford, and of the Nonquitt 
Spinning Company of New Bedford. We will 
mention here certain specialties of the Arlington 
Mills. The art of mercerizing cotton yarn to give 
it a silky appearance has been established in this 
country but about twenty years. It is a compara- 
tively new art, in which the Arlington Mills have 
been pioneers. These mills were among the first 
in America, if not the very first, to mercerize yarns 
successfully on a large scale for the trade. To-day 

51 



COTTON YARN DEPARTMENT 

they are perhaps the largest producers of mercerized 
yarns in the world. Their great capacity is now 
overtaxed, and for this reason the mercerizing plant 
of the Mills is being doubled in capacity. For a 
time in the earlier years the use of inferior grades of 
cotton brought mercerized products into disrepute 
in the trade. The inferior yarn and cotton caused 
the beautiful silky lustre which the mercerizing pro- 
cess gives to be merely temporary or unsatisfactory. 
From the outset the Arlington Mills acted on the 
principle that mercerized yarns and fabrics should be 
made only from the best grades of cotton, so selected 
and treated as to produce the highest silkiness and 
lustre. Time has proved beyond a doubt the cor- 
rectness of this principle. The Arlington Mills also 
bore the brunt of very important litigation that saved 
the mercerizing process for general use, instead of 
surrendering it as an exclusive privilege to a close 
monopoly. The story of this and of the mercerizing 
process we have embodied in a separate chapter. 

It would be impossible in a brief space to describe 
the diverse special yarns manufactured at the Arling- 
ton Mills. To suggest to the lay mind, however, the 
great variety, and to specify with some exactness for 
the trade the different yarns, we insert a list. 

To-day we are confronted with the highest general 
level of cotton prices since the Civil War. The 
temptation on the part of the spinner and on the 
part of the user is strong to employ cheap materials. 
But the Arlington Mills adhere and will continue to 
adhere to their previous policy of choosing the very 
highest grades of cotton for their mercerized yarns. 

52 



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COTTON YARN DEPARTMENT 

ARLINGTON MILLS COMBED COTTON 
YARN SPECIALTIES 

UNMERCERIZED YARNS 
Single : Bleached, delivered in skeins and on cones ; 

bleached in the skein. 
Ply : Bleached, delivered in skeins and on cones ; bleached 
in the skein. 
The above are made especially for very fine under- 
- wear and are unequalled. 

MERCERIZED YARNS 
Single : Delivered on cones. 
Ply : Delivered in warps and skeins and on cones. 

MERCERIZED AND BLEACHED YARNS 
Ply : Delivered in M^arps and skeins and on cones. 

GASSED AND MERCERIZED YARNS 
Ply : Delivered in warps and skeins and on cones. 

GASSED, MERCERIZED, AND BLEACHED YARNS 
Ply : Delivered in warps and skeins and on cones. 

MERCERIZED AND COLORED YARNS 
Ply : Delivered in warps and skeins and on cones. 

GASSED, MERCERIZED, AND COLORED YARNS 
Ply : Delivered in warps and skeins and on cones. 

These are made in four different qualities, desig- 
nated AM, XL, CE, XA, from Special Blends, 
Long Stapled American, Egyptian, and Sea Island 
Cotton. 

They are used in the manufacture of high grade 
woven fabrics — men's, women's, and children's 
underwear and hose ; also for thread, braids, trim- 
mings, laces, and embroideries. 

S3 



COTTON YARN DEPARTMENT 

Arlington Mills Mercerized Yarns are used as 
substitutes for silk because of their brilliant lustre. 

With these bleached, colored, and mercerized 
yarns of the Arlington Mills, with the combed 
yarns of the Manomet Mills, ranging in number 
from 8s to 36s, with the fine combed yarns of the 
Nonquitt Spinning Company, ranging from 36s to 
IOCS, and even higher numbers, with the carded 
yarns of the South in all numbers in which carded 
yarns are made, the Cotton Yarn Department of 
William Whitman & Company is equipped to 
offer in quantity the yarns that are used for almost 
every manufacturing purpose throughout the United 
States. Furthermore, the firm is prepared to offer 
each special kind and quality of yarn as the product 
of a leading specialist in that yarn, and to offer all 
the various yarns in the different forms required by 
the different users. All of the mills are equipped 
to supply yarns in either the single or the twisted 
forms, and put up in any of the ways desired by 
the trade ; in skeins, cones, warps, spools, etc., 
made from all different grades of cotton. It is the 
supplementing of special yarns into one broad range 
that makes this possible. It is the policy of the 
firm in requiring each mill to make a product that 
does not conflict with, but is in addition to, the 
product of another mill that has brought the firm 
the ability to offer all yarns for all trades. 



54 




I— I 



o 



NONQ^UITT SPINNING 
COMPANY 

Incorporated in igo6, under the laivs of the 
Commonivealth of Massachusetts 

Capital Stock, ^2,400,000 

President's Office . . . . 78 Chauncy St., Boston 
Treasurer's Office and Mills, New Bedford, Massachusetts 

OFFICERS 

William Whitman President 

Leonard C. Lapham Treasurer 



directors 

Arthur T. Bradlee Leonard C. Lapham 

Malcolm Campbell Charles W. Leonard 

William F. Draper Richard S. Russell 

George E. Kunhardt George M. Whitin 

William Whitman 



Clerk of the Corporation 
J. Earle Parker 

Resident Agent 
Andrew J. Currier 



THE EDDYSTONE MFG. CO. 

Incorporated in l8gj, under the laws of the 
Commonnuealth of Pennsyl-vania 

Capital Stock, |i, 000,000 

Executive Offices . loii Pennsylvania Building 

Philadelphia, Penn. 
Works Eddystone, Penn. 

officers 

W. p. Simpson President 

E. K. Nelson Vice-President 

W. P. Simpson . . . * . . . Treasurer 
W. F. Keenan Secretary 

DIRECTORS 
W. P. Simpson W. F. Keenan 

E. K. Nelson S. B. Brown 

T. E. Frame 




ESTABLISHED 1842 



PRINTED GOODS DEPARTMENT 



A HE Eddystone Manufacturing Company, suc- 
cessor to Wm. Simpson & Sons and the sole 
manufacturer of Simpson-Eddystone fabrics, markets 
its output through this department of the firm of 
William Whitman & Company. 

Three generations of Simpsons have made 
Simpson-Eddystone Prints, and three generations 
of consumers have used Simpson-Eddystone Prints. 

William Simpson, Sr., the founder of this busi- 
ness, began his career as a manufacturer in 1836 
by block printing silk handkerchiefs. He started 
Calico printing in 1842. 

The art of Calico printing is " as old as the hills " 
and its history proves it to be of similar stability. 
The output and use of printed cottons has greatly 
increased from ancient to modern days, at times 
increasing by leaps and bounds, and the ratio of 
consumption of this useful fabric bids fair to grow 
in future among the nations of the earth. 

The following is a part of a graphic treatise that 
appeared in 1883 on the subject of Calico printing, 
compiled by Messrs. George Ripley and Charles 
A. Dana : 

CALICO PRINTING 

"The term calico (from Calicut on the Malabar Coast, 

whence it was first imported) is applied in England to white 

or unprinted cotton cloth, but in the United States to 

cotton cloth upon which colored patterns are impressed 

57 



PRINTED GOODS DEPARTMENT 

with the use of dyes, technically called prints. The effect 
produced by the printing process is like that of the colored 
designs brought out by the loom, but with much greater 
economy of time and labor. 

The origin of this art, like that of dyeing, is traced back 
to very remote antiquity, and in some form or other 
appears to have been practised by nations of little skill in 
other respects. The aborigines of northern America stain 
their garments of different colors, which is a rude method 
of calico printing ; while the natives of Mexico, at the 
time of its conquest by Cortes, produced garments of 
cotton adorned with figures in black, blue, red, yellow, and 
green colors. 

Pliny's account of the process practised by the ancient 
Egyptians is particularly interesting for showing the skill 
attained by them in the art, as also for describing with great 
conciseness the principle of the common operations : 

' They take white cloths, and apply to them, not colors, 
but certain drugs which have the power of absorbing or 
drinking in color; and in the cloth so operated on there is 
not the smallest appearance of any dye or tincture. These 
cloths are then put into a caldron of some coloring matter, 
scalding hot, and after having remained a time are with- 
drawn, all stained and painted in various hues. This is 
indeed a wonderful process, seeing that there is in the said 
caldron only one kind of coloring material ; yet from it the 
cloth acquires this and that color, and the boiling liquor 
itself also changes according to the quality and nature of 
the dye-absorbing drugs which were at first laid on the white 
cloth, and these stains or colors are, moreover, so firmly 
fixed as to be incapable of removal by washing. If the 
scalding liquor were composed of various tinctures and 
colors, it would doubtless have confounded them all in one 
on the cloth ; but here one liquor gives a variety of colors 
according to the drugs previously applied. The colors of 
the cloths thus prepared are always more firm and durable 
than if the cloths were not dipped into the boiling caldron.' 

58 



PRINTED GOODS DEPARTMENT 

In the different countries of India the art is practised with 
various degrees of skill. In some the patterns are drawn 
with a pencil upon the fabric ; while in Mesopotamia, as 
stated by Mr. Buckingham, blocks are employed for pro- 
ducing an impression, as practised by the English block- 
printers. The Chinese have long used the same process. 
The large chintz counterpanes, called palampoors, of an 
ancient East India fabric, are prepared by placing on the 
cloth a pattern of wax and dyeing the parts not so protected. 
From India it appears the art was introduced at an early 
period into Europe ; but it never became of much impor- 
tance till some time in the 17th century, when Augsburg 
became celebrated for its printed cottons and linens. From 
this time the art spread into France, Germany, Switzerland, 
and Great Britain, being introduced into London about the 
year 1676. Here, being greatly restricted by the opposi- 
tion of the silk and woollen weavers, it made but slow 
progress. 

In 1720 the wearing of printed calico was prohibited by 
act of parliament, under a penalty of ^^5 for each offence 
on the part of the wearer and of £xo on that of the seller. 
In 1730 it was allowed to be printed, provided the warp 
was of linen and the weft only of cotton ; but even then it 
was subject to an onerous tax of 6d per square yard. 

In 1774 the restriction upon the manufacture was re- 
pealed ; but a tax of 3d per yard was continued, which was 
increased in 1806 to 3-i/2d, 

In 1 83 1 this duty was repealed; and the art, which 
had sustained itself under all the attempts to keep it down, 
now that it was relieved of the burden of paying an average 
of 50 per cent, on the goods produced for home consump- 
tion, suddenly received a great impetus, so that in place of 
8,300,000 pieces of goods manufactured in 1830, the pro- 
duction was increased within 20 years to about 20,000,000. 
The character of the goods was greatly improved, as well 
as the processes and machinery ; while the cost of produc- 
tion was much reduced by the enormous quantities manu- 

59 



PRINTED GOODS DEPARTMENT 

factured. The process of printing had been by wooden 
blocks, each one of which of a few inches square was 
applied by hand, impressing a portion of the figure upon the 
surface in a single color, and another block subsequently 
applied in the same spot to fill in another portion of the 
figure in another color. This process was soon nearly 
superseded by immense machines constructed with the great- 
est ingenuity, capable of producing 15 or even 20 colors at 
once with the same precision as in the case of the simpler 
machines which printed only two or three colors at once, 
while at the same time 600 or 700 times as many pieces 
were produced per day as if they had been blocked sepa- 
rately with the same number of workmen employed. 

The art has been perfected by the highest chemical talent, 
as well as by the ingenuity of the mechanician and the taste 
of the artist. Artists or pattern designers are especially 
employed, whose constant occupation is to furnish new pat- 
terns ; from which the printer selects those he judges most 
likely to be popular. The French artists are admitted to 
produce finer designs than the English, while the latter nation 
claims a superiority in the mechanical departments of calico 
printing." 

During the twenty-six years elapsing since the 
above treatise appeared, giant strides have been made 
in the calico printing industry. Immense and costly 
printing establishments have been built and equipped 
in all civilized countries. To-day hundreds of thou- 
sands of men, women, and children are engaged in 
producing calico, and its consumers are numbered 
by millions. 

Engineers and inventors of renown have devoted 
their energies to the improvement of old and the 
creation of new machinery. The coloring and 
finishing of cotton fabrics has been completely 
revolutionized. 

60 




PRINTED GOODS DEPARTMENT 

l^he Eddystone Manufacturing Com- 
pany's constant experience and practice 
during sixty-seven years embraces the 
most remarkable period of progress and 
development in the entire history of 
calico printing. In age, experience, organization, per- 
fection of equipment and actual accomplishment it 
stands first in its chosen field in this country, and its 
staple and novelty lines have earned an honored and 
enviable reputation. 

Artists, chemists, and engineers have successfully 
striven to beautify and improve the Simpson- 
Eddystone products. Many dress goods designers 
capable of producing exquisite patterns especially 
adapted for Simpson-Eddystone fabrics form part 
of the regular organization. The complete revolu- 
tion in the source of textile coloring matter, whereby 
the old vegetable colors were replaced by the superior 
coal tar colors, has been of great value in Simpson- 
Eddystone fast color combinations. 

The Eddystone Manufacturing Company's 
laboratory has evolved improved processes and 
methods for treating and manipulating prints, and 
has trained specialists known as "Colorists" to com- 
bine and blend colors in a striking and effective 
manner. The development of the art of merceriz- 
ing (silk finishing cotton fabrics) has been adopted 
and applied to the finish of certain Simpson-Eddystone 
lines. 

Simpson-Eddystone quality to-day is the condensed 
result of sixty-seven years of invaluable cumulative 
experience of the Simpson family^ whose members for 

6i 



PRINTED GOODS DEPARTMENT 

three successive generations have successfully devoted 
themselves to the task of improving the product bearing 
their name. 

In addition to the celebrated, long established, 
and well known staple lines of absolutely fast color 
prints, known as Simpson-Eddystone Solid Blacks^ 
Silver GraySy Black and Whites, and Shepherd Plaids, 
numerous other lines have been produced noted for 
their striking novelty, beauty of designs, brilliancy 
and fastness of color, fine fabric and finish. 

Among the meritorious lines of to-day bearing 
the Simpson-Eddystone ticket are the following : 

Silk Novelties embody the latest Parisian designs 
found only in the very finest class of goods. 

Velvettes are superior to the best known lines of 
outing flannels, being distinguished by brightness 
and fastness of coloring and clearness of white. 

The high grade Silkalines and Silk Finish Robes 
made by the Company enjoy an established position 
and an ever increasing demand, because of their real 
merit. They are characterized by their rich designs, 
harmonious color effects, fine texture, and lustrous 
finish. 

The unmistakable seal of public approval proves 
beyond question the sterling quality of Simpson- 
Eddystone fabrics. 

The great range and variety of these fabrics and 
the diversity of product of The Eddystone Manu- 
facturing Company is further illustrated by the 
additional lines of fabric mentioned in the follow- 
ing list. 



62 



PRINTED GOODS DEPARTMENT 



SIMPSON-EDDYSTONE 



MADEIRA LOTH 
3A MADEAS PEEOALES 
L I N N S 
SIM SILK 
QUAKEE GEATS 
DAEK NOVELTIES 
ELTSIAN AET EOBES 
CAMEO BLACK & GEAYS 
MEEITO 4/4 PEEOALES 




EMPIEE SATINES 
INDIGO LIGHT BLUES 
L U M I N E 
OAEMINIOS 
SABELETTES 
SOAELETTA CLOTH 
FASTHAZELBEOWNS 
ALL INDIGO INDINES 
CEEDITA 4/4 PEEOALES 



The Eddystone Manufacturing Company pro- 
duces annually over 6o,ooo miles of staple and 
novelty lines, consisting of dress goods and draperies, 
each line requiring from eleven to twenty-seven dis- 
tinct processes to perfect, and each particular process 
demanding careful planning and execution to produce 
the famous Simpson-Eddystone quality. 

The name carries the ring of accompHshment 
and is a guarantee of high quality. 



"SIMPSON-EDDYSTONE" ON PRINTS 
IS LIKE STERLING ON SILVER 



(>3 



NASHAWENA MILLS 

Incorporated in igog, under the laivs of the 
Commonivealth of Massachusetts 

Capital Stock, 12,500,000 

President's Office . . . . 78 Chauncy St., Boston 
Treasurer's Office and Mills New Bedford, Massachusetts 



OFFICERS 

William Whitman President 

William B. Gardner . .- . . Treasurer 



directors 



George E. Bullard 
I. Tucker Burr 
William F. Draper 
Robert H. Gardiner 
William B. Gardner 



George E. Kunhardt 
Charles W. Leonard 
Richard S. Russell 
George M. Whitin 
Malcolm D. Whitman 



William Whitman 

Clerk of the Corporation 
J. Earle Parker 



Superintendent 
John L. Burton 



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§ 


:5 


< 


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§ 


^ 


tuO 


< 




m 


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r/1 


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r/1 


^ 


-n 



GRAY GOODS DEPARTMENT 



1 HE term "gray goods" applies generally to 
fabrics which have not been bleached or dyed or 
subjected to any process after weaving. They are 
sold in the condition in which they come from the 
• looms. Certain gray goods, such as sheetings, drills, 
and ducks, are frequently retailed in their gray or 
natural state. The gray goods marketed by William 
Whitman & Company, however, include only those 
cloths that are manufactured especially for convert-' 
ers, who have them dyed, bleached, or printed before 
they reach the consumer. 

Of the different products marketed by the Gray 
Goods Department, the varied fabrics of the Nasha- 
wena Mills deserve first mention. They will be 
many and great in quantity, as this mill is the largest 
single cotton mill ever built at one time in the 
United States. Primarily the Nashawena Mills 
were incorporated to manufacture the highest grades 
of fine cotton fabrics, and to attain perfection as 
nearly as possible in that manufacture. With this 
end in view no effort has been spared to have the 
buildings of the best construction for the proper 
light, and the proper atmospheric conditions, and 
to have installed also the best weaving machinery, 
the best spinning machinery, and the best means of 
creating power and of transmitting it evenly through- 
out the mill. The result is that the plant of the 

65 



GRAY GOODS DEPARTMENT 

Nashawena Mills stands to-day as a model mill of 
its kind, equipped with every improvement known 
to textile science. It is new from beginning to end. 
It will not be handicapped in any of its opera- 
tions by a single machine that is not absolutely 
up to date. 

In the varied processes of the manufacture of fine 
cotton fabrics, the spinning of the yarns woven into 
the fabrics is as important in attaining a high stand- 
ard of perfection as the process of weaving. The 
management of the Nashawena Mills has had a long 
experience in the art of spinning fine cotton yarns. 
Also the plant is in a splendid locality on the 
Acushnet River in the city of New Bedford, where 
the atmospheric conditions are as well adapted for 
fine cotton spinning and weaving as those of any 
other locality in this country. 

An ideal location, an ideal equipment, and a 
management with a long experience, not only in the 
art of weaving fine cotton fabrics, but in the art of 
spinning the yarns woven into those fabrics, are 
special advantages that should enable this large mill 
to take the lead. 

The fine cotton fabrics of the Nashawena Mills 
comprise almost every variety that is sold in the 
gray or natural state to the converter. These fabrics 
are made in widths from 27 to 45 inches from yarns 
spun from long-staple American, Sea Island, or 
Egyptian cotton. They are specially constructed 
for the finish that may be required and for the 
various special uses to which they may be put. 

66 



GRAY GOODS DEPARTMENT 

The Plain or Staple goods include Lawns, India 
Linons, Sateens, and Twills where the construc- 
tions have been adopted by the converting trade as 
the most suitable for their purposes. In this class 
of goods perfection of fabric is of the utmost 
importance. 

The Fancy cotton goods include Venetians, 
Dimities, Fancy Checks and Stripes, Dobbies, Leno 
and Jacquard weaves, and all kinds of novelties. 
Special attention is given to mercerized fabrics, 
which are either mercerized after being woven or 
are woven from mercerized yarns. In these goods 
great care has to be taken in preparing the yarns so 
that the fabrics will retain permanently the attract- 
ive, lustrous, and silky appearance 'imparted by the 
mercerizing process. 

Another important class of fabrics manufactured 
by the Nashawena Mills includes silk-and-cotton 
goods. The industry of manufacturing these goods 
is in its infancy in the United States, but it gives 
promise of a healthy growth. During the past seven 
years the increased demand for silk and cotton goods 
has been a conspicuous feature of the development 
of the textile industries. These fabrics, often called 
silk-filled goods, are made from fine-spun yarns and 
filaments of silk. When finished they have the 
appearance of all-silk goods. They wear well 
and are reasonable in price. For many purposes 
they are as serviceable and acceptable as all-silk 
fabrics. 

As silk is such an important raw material in this 

67 



GRAY GOODS DEPARTMENT 

branch of the business, some description of its 
production may be of interest. 

Silk is the product of the silkworm, which, at a 
certain stage of its existence, discharges two filaments 
in a semi-fluid condition from glands near its head. 
These filaments unite as they are discharged and 
form one thread, which hardens immediately on ex- 
posure to the atmosphere. The worm winds the 
thread around itself until it is entirely enveloped in 
what is called a cocoon, which contains on an average 
about a half mile of thread. Three weeks after 
the cocoon is finished the worm changes to a moth, 
forcing its way out of the cocoon by cutting or 
breaking some of the threads. To prevent this, 
every cocoon not intended for breeding purposes is 
placed in a steam heater to stifle the chrysalis. The 
filaments of silk are then in condition to be unwound 
from the cocoon and reeled into skeins. The skeins 
weigh from one to several ounces, and are packed 
in bundles called books, weighing from five to ten 
pounds. The books are then made up into bales, 
weighing from lOO to i6o pounds, the form in which 
raw silk is generally shipped for commercial use. 

Most silk is in a sense cultivated. The mulberry 
trees on which the silkworm feeds are scientifically 
grown and protected, and the silkworm is carefully 
nurtured. Most Canton, Japanese, and Italian silks 
are grown under these conditions. There is, how- 
ever, a considerable amount of wild silk used in the 
cotton and silk industry. This is known as Tussah, 
coming chiefly from China and having a highly 

68 



GRAY GOODS DEPARTMENT 

lustrous aspect that adapts it particularly for use 
as filling for fine goods. Another silk is known as 
Doppionr. This is a heavy, rough silk. It hap- 
pens in certain instances that two silk worms weave 
their cocoons together. This causes the silk or fila- 
ments of the separate cocoons to adhere at certain 
points, and wherever this adhesion takes place a slub 
or rough spot in the thread is created. This makes 
the Doppioni silk very uneven, and it is used to give 
a rough effect in cotton and silk fabrics, resembling 
the well-known Pongee and Rajah textures. 

The chief sources of supply of the silks used in 
the cotton and silk industry are China, Japan, and 
Italy. In spite of many years of effort, the pro- 
duction of raw silk has never proved commercially 
successful in the United States, and practically all 
of the silk consumed here is imported from other 
countries. Therefore, the rate of progress of the 
silk manufacturing industry as a whole may be 
measured by the increase of the imports of silk, 
which have grown with astonishing rapidity from 
1868 until the present time. The imports of raw 
silk for the year ending June 30, 1909, were 49 per 
cent greater than those for the preceding year, and 
the total shipments of Tussah silk from Shanghai 
during the year ending June 30, 1909, were nearly 
double those of the preceding year, and 50 per 
cent in excess of the yearly average from 1904 to 
1907. .The so-called cotton and silk industry in 
this country has developed a further market for the 
silks of the world. 

69 



GRAY GOODS DEPARTMENT 

The Nashawena Mills are equipped to manufac- 
ture every variety" of silk-filled goods, and will be 
an important factor in this new industry. All kinds 
of novelties and special designs will be made in 
these fabrics, just as they are made in the all-cotton 
goods already described. 

A very important feature of the Nashawena busi- 
ness is special contract work in all the various 
fabrics which we have mentioned. Special fabrics 
are made up in accordance with the patterns of 
customers and confined exclusively to those cus- 
tomers. Attention is devoted to designing fancy 
patterns and novelty weaves. Special samples are 
made up in accordance with the suggestions of 
purchasers, and designs of the cloth are reserved 
altogether for those purchasers. Skilled designers 
carry out the ideas of customers in the various 
fabrics, and the individuality of each customer as 
to taste or design with regard to any specialties is 
preserved as far as possible. 

In addition to the Nashawena fabrics the Gray 
Goods Department markets the entire production 
of the Calhoun Mills, of Calhoun Falls, South 
Carolina. These mills were planned to spin their 
own yarns from cotton grown principally in the sur- 
rounding country, and to weave these yarns into 
plain staple fabrics. It has been the aim of the 
management to specialize on one or two construc- 
tions, with the idea of perfecting their manufacture. 
The result is that the fabrics have proved to be of 
uniformly high standard, owing to the quality of the 

70 



GRAY GOODS DEPARTMENT 

yarn as well as the careful weaving. The demand 
for the Calhoun cloths has grown, and to meet that 
demand the capacity of the mills is now being 
increased. 

These gray cloths are sold to converters, who 
bleach, dye, or print them into many different 
finished fabrics. The finished fabrics in their differ- 
ent forms are used for almost every kind of light 
cotton article. 



71 



EVOLUTION OF AMERICAN 
DRESS GOODS INDUSTRY 



1 HE art of wool manufacturing, in its present 
varied and attractive aspects, is altogether a modern 
development in the United States. Up to the Civil 
War the industry had found only a scant and pre- 
carious foothold. Take, for example, such a fabric 
as bunting, used for dress goods as well as for flags, 
pennants, and signals — even as late as 1865 this 
material had scarcely been produced at all in America. 
As the late Dr. John L. Hayes, first Secretary of 
the National Association of Wool Manufacturers, 
said in a speech in that year, 1865, at Philadelphia: 

"To our shame be it spoken, all our flags are grown, 
spun, woven, and dyed in England, and on the last Fourth 
of July the proud American ensigns, which floated over 
every national ship, post and fort, and every patriotic home, 
flaunted forth upon the breeze the industrial dependence of 
America on England." 

This was true not only of bunting, but of the 
lighter woolen fabrics in general — they were brought 
from Europe because it was believed that there was 
neither the machinery nor the technical skill to make 
them here. Dr. Hayes in this same address spoke 
of an association of patriotic ladies formed in Wash- 
ington in the gloomiest days of the war, who pledged 
themselves to wear nothing but American fabrics, 
and were surprised and mortified to discover the ex- 
tremely meagre range of suitable worsted dress goods 
of native production. 

73 



EVOLUTION OF DRESS GOODS INDUSTRY 

There has been a great, significant change since 
then, and it may be interesting to review briefly the 
evolution of the dress goods industry in America. 
Throughout the period from 1845 ^° i^S^, two 
favorite fabrics imported from France and enjoying 
a wide popularity in this country were mousseline 
delaines, 11 inches wide, and cashmeres 40 to 42 
inches wide, made entirely of fine, soft wool — the 
delaines were produced in both solid and printed 
colors. Mindful of the demand for these French 
goods, Mr. William Courtis, an American partner 
in the commission house of Thornton, Firth & 
Company, of Bradford and Manchester, suggested 
to English manufacturers that they make a fabric 
to be known, Anglicized, as muslin delaine, in imi- 
tation of the French fabric, but having a cotton in- 
stead of worsted warp and a somewhat coarser grade 
of wool for the filling; in other words, a stronger, 
cheaper fabric, similar in general effect to the FrencU 
article, but capable of being sold at a much lower 
price. This fabric was made in different textures 
for different seasons, the lighter being called barege 
delaines, challies, Persian delaines, or Persian cloths. 
These English-made fabrics in their turn gained 
great popularity among the women of America, and 
the large sales brought large profit to the transat- 
lantic manufacturers. 

Naturally, American manufacturers, though their 
art was at that time rather feebly developed, began 
to ask why they could not gain some of this profit 
for themselves. The honor of being the pioneer in 
this important undertaking belongs to John Marland 

74 



EVOLUTION OF DRESS GOODS INDUSTRY 

of Ballardvale, Massachusetts, in whose mill were 
made the first delaines, printed or dyed, that were 
produced in America. The wool was combed by 
hand ; the cloth was printed first on blocks and then 
on the machines of the Hamilton Manufacturing 
Company at Lowell. But though an ambitious and 
progressive manufacturer, Mr. Marland was not a 
wealthy one, and there was a stubborn prejudice 
against American-made fabrics to overcome — a 
prejudice that even in these later and more en- 
lightened days has not entirely vanished. So the 
pioneer undertaking of Mr. Marland failed. But 
the effort was repeated by other manufacturing 
concerns with equal bravery and more abundant 
resources. 

The Amoskeag Manufacturing Company of Man- 
chester, New Hampshire, equipped a small mill at 
Hooksett with two hundred looms and began the 
production of delaines, which were printed at Green- 
wich, Rhode Island. Another and a larger estab- 
lishment for the manufacture of delaines — the 
Manchester Mills — was meanwhile founded by 
stockholders of the Amoskeag Company. At first 
only carded wool was used, but when the combing 
machines succeeded the hand process in England 
and France they were promptly introduced in Man- 
chester. The Hamilton Woolen Company of 
Southbridge, Massachusetts, which had been manu- 
facturing men's wear, transformed its factory into 
a dress goods mill for the making of delaines, and 
in 1853 the Pacific Mills at Lawrence, Massachu- 
setts, were organized for a similar purpose. ' 

IS 



EVOLUTION OF DRESS GOODS INDUSTRY 

These American-made dress goods soon com- 
manded a wide market in this country. They were 
attractive and durable, and for many years proved 
to be the leading dress goods fabrics for the great 
majority of American purchasers. The first Morrill 
tariff act, produced not by the Civil War, but by 
the depression and distress and the loss of revenue 
following the disastrous " downward revision " of 
1857, gave to American manufacturers a more ade- 
quate protection. This Morrill tariff, which was 
signed by President Buchanan on March 2, 1861, 
and was an avowed protective measure, designed to 
lessen the importation of foreign goods, levied a 
duty "on all delaines, cashmere delaines, muslin de- 
laines, barege delaines, composed wholly or in part 
of wool, and on all otheY goods of similar descrip- 
tion." Mr. William E. Webster, to whose long 
and intimate knowledge of the dress goods industry 
we are indebted for many of the facts set forth here, 
was then the United States appraiser of merchandise 
at the port of Boston. Though the phraseology of 
the new law was somewhat indefinite, Mr. Webster, 
as appraiser, construed it to include all goods made 
of the same materials and used for the same purposes 
as delaines, as goods of similar description to delaines. 
This fortunate interpretation, of such momentous 
consequence to American industry, was approved by 
the Secretary of the Treasury and sustained by the 
courts. This provision of law not only increased 
the Federal revenue at a most opportune time, 
but incidentally afforded protection and encour- 
agement to American manufacturers in an im- 

76 ■ 



EVOLUTION OF DRESS GOODS INDUSTRY 

portant art, which has now grown to splendid 
proportions. 

But this American success has been hard won. 
When the English manufacturers realized that they 
had lost the American market for the ordinary 
delaines, they turned their attention to stripes and 
plaids made from dyed yarns, and also to a piece- 
dyed twilled cloth made with a cotton warp and 
worsted filling and known as Coburg, a clever imita- 
tion of the French worsted cashmere. These goods 
competed severely with the American delaines, and 
our manufacturers were compelled to turn their 
attention to the newer fabrics or surrender the 
market to the foreigners. 

There were six exhibitors of American dress goods 
at the American Institute Exhibition of 1869, both 
the Pacific Mills and the Arlington Mills among 
them, and it is significant of the difficulties with 
which the industry was even then contending that 
of the other four exhibitors three subsequently failed. 
There were not only delaines, but serges, reps, pop- 
lins, and Coburgs in these exhibits, but not a piece 
of men's wear worsteds or white goods. No white 
goods had been made here prior to 1869, but the 
development of the white goods and men's wear 
worsted industry began simultaneously in the year 
following. About the year 1870 the Washington 
Mills of Lawrence, Massachusetts, undertook the 
manufacture of all-wool plaids made of fine yarns 
in imitation of the French goods. Technically the 
experiment was a success ; the quality of the Ameri- 
can fabrics was admirable. But at that time the 

77 



EVOLUTION OF DRESS GOODS INDUSTRY 

mills could not compete with the French in the 
matter of cost. Now, however, the production of 
these fine, all-wool goods is firmly established in 
the United States, and American manufacturers, the 
Arlington Mills among them, have attained a very 
high standard of excellence. 

When knit fabrics superseded for underwear the 
twilled flannel, which had long been used for that 
purpose, woolen manufacturers turned their attention 
to plain woven flannel in plain colors, called ladies' 
cloths and tricots, and to stripes and plaids. These 
goods are still worn to a considerable extent, and 
the fine, light-weight broadcloth, used for ladies' 
wear, is produced here in' competition with the best 
foreign fabrics. 

It is the distinction of the Arlington Mills to 
have been the first to establish on a large scale in 
this country the manufacture of black alpacas, 
mohairs, and brilliantines, though at about the same 
time similar goods of fine quality were produced by 
the Farr Alpaca Company of Holyoke, Massachu- 
setts. Black alpaca of English manufacture had 
come into large use in the United States, following 
delaines. This alpaca was an eminently serviceable 
fabric, fit for almost all occasions. It soon acquired 
the widest popularity. Strong efforts were made to 
reproduce the English fabric in this country, but it 
was a perplexing task to recreate the color, the 
lustre, the finish, and all the distinctive English 
characteristics. 

English manufacturers insisted that the fabric 
never could be made here, and it had obtained such 

78 



EVOLUTION OF DRESS GOODS INDUSTRY 

a hold upon dealers and consumers that it was 
thought that there ^^as something in the climate, 
the soil, the sky, or the atmosphere which would 
prevent the reproduction of this particular cloth in 
the United States. Several mills attempted the 
. manufacture of alpaca on a small scale, but all were 
forced to abandon it as impracticable. 

In 1872 the Arlington Mills, which hitherto had 
been successfully employed on plain and plaided 
poplins, began to produce alpaca first of the lower 
grades, but finally of fourteen qualities. Even after 
the goods were satisfactorily manufactured, it was 
difficult to put them on the market. Merchants 
were accustomed to ordering their alpacas from 
England and were reluctant to believe that they 
could be produced anywhere else. There was a 
similar narrow prejudice among their customers. 
One of the first sales of the Arlington alpacas was 
to the late Eben D. Jordan, founder of the firm of 
Jordan, Marsh & Company, of Boston, who followed 
his experiment with large orders. 

Mr, Jordan was one of the ablest and most 
progressive merchants of his time. His breadth 
of view and the steady development of the American 
textile manufacture are both very interestingly re- 
flected in this statement by Mr. Jordan in the 
Boston Transcript of March 3, 1869: 

The firm has now been in business more than eighteen 
years. When they began, there were but one or two 
articles outside the plain cotton fabrics in their trade that 
were not obtained from abroad ; now but one-tenth of their 
entire stock yearly sold passes through the custom house, 
and that is composed of the highest range of goods not 

79 



EVOLUTION OF DRESS GOODS INDUSTRY 

sought for by the people at large. Mr. Jordan's experience, 
gathered from repeated visits to distant markets, leads him 
to confidently believe that ere long America will depend 
entirely upon her own industry to clothe the masses of her 
people, and eventually will command her share of the trade 
of the world. 

A large part of this prophecy has already been 
abundantly verified. America now out of her own 
industry does clothe the masses of her people. In 
the Centennial Exposition of 1876 at Philadelphia, 
the Arlington Mills presented an exhibit of its dress 
goods — the only such exhibit, with one exception, 
made by any American establishment. These goods 
won the outspoken admiration of foreign visitors 
and secured an award from the judges " for a very 
superior collection of black alpacas, brilliantines, 
figured mohairs, and Roubaix poplins, all first-class 
goods of their kind, very uniform in width, color, 
and finish, and being of recent introduction reflect 
great credit on the manufacturers." This victory 
was the result of a high and honorable ambition and 
of iron perseverance, a liberal expenditure of money 
in well-considered experiments, and the most precise 
technical skill. 

Yet scarcely had these splendid results been 
accomplished than fickle fashion began to abandon 
the lustrous, hard-finished fabrics for the modern 
dress goods described in a preceding chapter. Here 
again the Arlington management was quick to 
recognize and meet the change by the designing of 
new fabrics, the installation of new and expensive 
machinery, and the introduction of new but successful 
processes of manufacturing. 

80 



EVOLUTION OF DRESS GOODS INDUSTRY 

All these things, however, would not avail with- 
out adequate tariff protection, to cover the difference 
in wage cost between this country and Europe. 
The law of 1867 did not contemplate the classes of 
dress goods that had come into vogue, and did not 
give this adequate protection to the newer fabrics. 
American manufacturers, paying wages twice as high 
as those of Great Britain and three times as high as 
those of the Continent, found overwhelming odds 
against them, and for a long time made only slow 
and difficult progress. Thus, the importations of 
dress goods in the year 1880 amounted to over 
68,000,000 yards, while the American production 
for the same period amounted to only 40,000,000 
yards. Therefore , the American manufacturers 
appealed to the Tariff Commission of 1882 for new 
rates of duty that would be in reality protective. 
The chief spokesman for the American industry 
on this occasion was Mr. William Whitman, then 
Treasurer and now President of the Arlington 
Mills. 

The Tariff Commission, while recommending a 
reduction of rates on other wool manufactures, pro- 
posed to Congress a new clause covering all-wool 
merino dress goods in a way that promised to en- 
courage their production here. But Congress did 
not accept the suggestion and reduced the duty as 
fixed by the Commission to a figure that proved 
altogether inadequate. Under the tariff of 1883 
our importations of dress goods increased steadily 
from a foreign valuation of 115,349,000 in 1884 to 
a foreign valuation of 119,793,253 in 1889. Again, 

81 



EVOLUTION OF DRESS GOODS INDUSTRY 

in the tariff revision of 1890, the American manu- 
facturers appeared before Congress and asked for 
adequate protection not only for all-wool but for 
the cotton warp dress goods that were increasing 
in importance. Mr. Whitman was this time also 
the champion of the American industry, and the 
increased protection which he sought was granted 
by the national lawmakers. 

The art of making dress goods is one of the most\ 
uncertain and hazardous of industries, and long-con- 
tinued success in this art is most difficult of attain- 
ment. Sometimes it will be plaided styles that are 
" all the rage " ; then stripes, then fancy weaves in 
small figures ; then brocades in large figures requir- 
ing Jacquard looms ; sometimes plain weaves, some- 
times narrow twills, and sometimes wider ones, called 
serges. Sometimes the demand is for lustrous goods ; 
sometimes for fabrics of a dead finish. So the im- 
perative kaleidoscope of fashion turns and turns, 
and the successful manufacturers of to-day must have 
the power not only to recognize but to anticipate 
these ever-changing demands upon their technical 
ingenuity and financial resources. Need there be 
wonder that many fail and few succeed ? 



82 



THE MERCERIZING PROCESS 



In a previous chapter we have referred to the 
extensive application' in the Arlington Mills of the 
process known as mercerizing. It has come to be 
a great and valuable factor in modern textile manu- 
facturing. The article of commerce that is known 
as " mercerized cotton " is a silk-like product 
resulting from the saturation of tightly stretched 
cotton yarns or cotton cloth with a solution of 
caustic soda, the yarn or cloth, while still tightly 
stretched, having the alkali washed out with water. 

The process is called "mercerizing" because in 
its chemical aspects it was originated by one John 
Mercer, an Englishman, who took out a British 
patent on October 24, 1850, for a method of sub- 
jecting vegetable fibres and fibrous materials, cotton, 
flax, etc., to the action of caustic soda, caustic potash, 
sulphuric acid, or chloride of zinc, and of washing 
the material with water or acidulated water. But 
Mercer did not realize the value of the mechanical 
expedient of having the yarn or cloth tightly 
stretched during these operations, nor did he dis- 
cover that only caustic soda and caustic potash are 
capable of producing the desired silky lustre, and 
that cotton and flax are the only vegetable fibres 
that admit of the successful application of this 
process. 

These vital details were left to be developed by 
Horace Arthur Lowe, an English chemist, whose 

83 



THE MERCERIZING PROCESS 

patent bore date of March 21, 1890. It is a 
pathetic fact that Lowe never received any advantage 
from his discovery. Like so many other originators 
of valuable processes or devices, he failed to enlist 
the co-operation of the energy and capital ot an 
enterprising manufacturer. He did not even receive 
encouragement enough to enable him to keep his 
patent alive in the United Kingdom, and he never 
even applied for a patent to secure his invention in 
the United States. 

Meanwhile the enlarged use and better under- 
standing of the long, fine fibres of Sea Island and 
Egyptian cotton, especially adapted to the mercer- 
izing process, and a reduction in the cost of caustic 
soda brought nearer the time when the processes of 
Mercer and Lowe could be made commercially 
successfully. On March 4, 1896, Richard Thomas 
and Emmanuel Prevost, proprietors of dye works 
in Crefeld, Germany, secured a German patent for 
what purported to be an improvement on John 
Mercer's original process by keeping the yarn or 
cloth under tension until after it had been washed. 
Beyond this purely mechanical advantage, Thomas 
and Prevost gave no indication that they regarded 
their patent as anything more than co-extensive 
with Mercer's, and they clearly declared that it was 
applicable to all vegetable fibres and could be prac- 
tised as successfully with sulphuric acid and chloride 
of zinc as with caustic alkali. When they sought a 
patent in Great Britain they were met on November 
30, 1896, by opposition from Lowe and were de- 
feated, or rather were adjudged to be entitled to a 

84 



THE MERCERIZING PROCESS 

patent only on condition of omitting all reference to 
alkaline lye. Their British application was conse- 
quently abandoned, and the German Patent Office, 
on June 9, 1898, adjudged void their patent of 
March 4, 1896, on the ground of its anticipation by 
Lowe's patent. 

Thomas and Prevost, however, prepared to make 
a hard fight for what they regarded as their exclu- 
sive rights under patents granted to them on March 
15, 1898, in the United States. The officials of 
our Patent Office had overlooked the Lowe patent, 
and this consequently had not been cited as a refer- 
ence in America. Thomas, Prevost, and their 
associates brought suit upon their American patents 
against three important manufacturing establish- 
ments, one of which was the Arlington Mills. 
Though the Arlington management was invited to 
join in the mercerizing monopoly under these 
patents, and was given an opportunity, with a few 
other concerns, to turn the mercerizing process to 
exclusive account, it determined to stand aloof from 
the monopoly and to fight its pretensions in the 
courts. 

The litigation was begun in the year 1900. The 
case of the defence was complex and difficult. It 
was necessary to prove that there was no merchant- 
able cotton which, when manufactured into yarn or 
cloth and then subjected to the process described in 
Lowe's patent, would fail to develop and manifest a 
silky lustre of such a character that the differences 
between the effects thus produced on different grades 
of cotton were merely differences of degree. 

85 



THE MERCERIZING PROCESS 

Counsel for the Arlington Mills and the other 
establishments interested were forced to conduct, a 
scientific investigation of the nature of silky lustre 
and a searching examination of the history of 
mercerization. 

But the courage of the Arlington management in 
standing out with a few other concerns against the 
aggressive monopoly was rewarded when, on August 
7, 1906, Judge Francis C. Lowell, in the Circuit 
Court of the United States for the District of 
Massachusetts, held that in view of Lowe's British 
patent the Thomas and Prevost patents were 
invalid. The complainants did not appeal from 
this judgment, but after some delay finally submitted 
to a dismissal of all their suits. 

In the uncertain years when the decision of the 
court was pending, the Arlington Mills bound 
themselves by formal contract to protect their cus- 
tomers against the arrogant claims of the monopoly. 
This step was rendered necessary by the fact that 
the concern which held by mesne assignments the 
professedly exclusive rights under the Thomas and 
Prevost patents in the United States, not content in 
instituting suits against the Arlington Mills and 
their associates, went to the extraordinary length of 
threatening to prosecute the purchasers of mercerized 
goods from the Arlington Mills and other com- 
panies. A circular containing this threat was widely 
issued to the trade. To this menace the Arlington 
Mills, on the advice of its counsel, replied that the 
patents were for processes and had nothing to do 
with products, and that it was only the manufacturer 



THE MERCERIZING PROCESS 

and not the purchaser who could be made liable for 
mercerizing under tension if the validity of the 
patents were maintained. 

Nevertheless, the monopoly proceeded in its 
efforts to frighten the possible purchasers of the 
mercerized goods, and the Arlington Mills met this 
undertaking by binding themselves in a formal con- 
tract to protect their customers against any liability. 
This proved acceptable in all but a few cases, and 
the monopoly failed to exercise any important, 
terrifying effect until its power was forever broken 
by the decision of the Federal Court. This de- 
cision, won after a long and arduous contest, has 
proved to be of very great economic significance, 
for the mercerizing process has now become estab- 
lished all over the United States, and the benefits 
of the process have accrued to all manufacturers 
who have desired to undertake it and to the public 
at large. 



87 



IMPROVED CONDITIONS IN 
MODERN MILLS 



/xLL of the manufacturing concerns represented 
by William Whitman & Company, whose work has 
been described in the preceding chapters, are dis- 
tinctively modern mills in all the characteristics of 
their equipment and construction. In the Arlington 
Mills, the Manomet Mills, the Nonquitt Spinning 
Company, the Nashawena Company, The Eddystone 
Manufacturing Company, and the others mentioned, 
the health and comfort of the operatives are very 
carefully considered, both because these precautions 
are the rightful due of the working people, and 
because an enlightened self-interest to-day demands 
health and comfort as essential to the highest indus- 
trial efficiency. The mills are all amply, but not 
excessively, heated when heat is necessary, and are 
ventilated with scientific thoroughness. The most 
improved processes of sanitation and hygiene are 
embodied everywhere. The Eddystone Manufac- 
turing Company has groups of model dwellings, and 
the environment of these dwellings and of the mills 
themselves is made as attractive as possible. 

The lot of the mill operatives in these modern 
structures is vastly superior to the condition of the 
same classes of workers a half century or even fewer 
years ago. Once textile operatives in this country 
worked thirteen hours a day, or seventy-eight hours 



IMPROVED CONDITIONS IN MODERN MILLS 

a week. These were hard, long days, spent often 
in poorly lighted, poorly ventilated buildings. All 
these things have been wonderfully changed for the 
better in recent years by regulation of law, in part, 
but still more by the voluntary efforts of liberal and 
far-seeing manufacturers. In Massachusetts the 
hours of labor for women and children in the mills 
have been gradually reduced until the limit is set 
at fifty-six hours a week, in a law which has just 
become effective. 

One interesting beneficent development of the 
textile industry, in which the Arlington Mills were 
the pioneers, was the weekly payment of operatives, 
a procedure now, and for a long time past, required 
by the laws of Massachusetts. Until the year 1877 
the Arlington Mills, like other manufacturing con- 
cerns, had followed the practice of paying their em- 
ployees once a month, but Mr. Charles Wainwright, 
then and now the paymaster of the Arlington Mills, 
became impressed with the practical advantages that 
would result from a system of more frequent pay- 
ments, and he brought the subject to the atten- 
tion of the treasurer, urging that operatives who 
are paid only once a month are compelled to 
purchase their necessary supplies on credit, and are 
thereby tempted, and indeed often forced, to incur 
a large indebtedness. At first the experiment was 
adopted, on July i, 1877, of paying every two 
weeks. The system proved so satisfactory that at 
the end of 1877 a plan of weekly payments was 
substituted for it, and this has ever since been the 
practice of the Arlington Mills. This was the 

89 



IMPROVED CONDITIONS IN MODERN MILLS 

first corporation of any importance in Massachu- 
setts to adopt the progressive and helpful policy 
which eight years later was made compulsory on all 
manufacturing establishments in Massachusetts by 
the General Court. 



90 



INDEX 



PAGE 

Alpacas 7^ 

American Institute Exhibition 11 

Amoskeag Manufacturing Company 75 

Arlington Mills, care of employees 88 

Arlington Mills, combed cotton yarn specialties .... 53 

Arlington Mills, combed yarns 50 

Arlington Mills, commission combing 41 

Arlington Mills, early dress goods H 

Arlington Mills, fancy colored yarns 3^ 

Arlington Mills, naphtha solvent process 39 

Arlington Mills, officers and directors 24 

Arlington Mills, pioneers in mercerizing 51 

Arlington Mills, pioneers in worsted fabrics 25 

Arlington Mills, tops 37 

Arlington Mills, victors in mercerizing litigation .... 86 

Arlington Mills, worsted yarn specialties 35 

Automobile cloths 3^ 

Boston Transcript, quoted 79 

Bradford manufacturers, memorial of 33 

Bradlee, Arthur T 11 

Bunting 73 

Calhoun Mills 7° 

Calico printing, historical sketch of 57 

Calico printing in Great Britain 59 

Calico printing in India ......•••.•• 59 

Calico printing, Pliny's account of, in Egypt 58 

Calicut, first source of calico 57 

Centennial Exposition of 1876 ......... 80 

Cloth, output of 21 

Coburgs • ' • ' 11 

Combed yarns, uses of 5° 

Combing wools 2° 

91 



INDEX 

PAGE 



Commission combing ^i 

Consumption of wool and cotton 22 

Cotton and silk goods . 67 

Cotton, combed yarns, uses of. * 5° 

Cotton, consumption of 22 

Cotton, Egyptian 17 

Cotton, Egyptian, importation of 16 

Cotton mills. New Bedford group (map) 72 

Cotton, Northern yarns a6 

Cotton, Peruvian 17 

Cotton, Peruvian, importation of 16 

Cotton producing area of the United States ...... 14 

Cotton production of world 15 

Cotton, Sea Island 17 

Cotton, Sea Island, crops and movement of 16 

Cotton, Southern yarns ' 45 

Cotton, Upland 17 

Cotton Yarn Department ac 

Cottons, the principal 17 

Courtis, William 74 

Cross-dyed fabrics ?o 

Cutting-up trade 27 

Delaines, mousselaine 74 

Departments of business . 22 

Dress Goods Department 25 

Dress goods industry, evolution of American 73 

Dress goods, in tariff 81 

Dress goods, specialties for the trade 31 

Dress goods. Staples and Fancies 28 

Eddystone Manufacturing Company, model dwellings ... 88 

Eddystone Manufacturing Company, officers and directors . 56 

Eddystone Manufacturing Company, printed goods . . . 57 

Egyptian cotton -17 

Egyptian cotton, importation of 16 

Employees, 14,000 in number 20 

Evolution of American dress goods industry 73 

Exposition, Centennial, of 1876 80 

92 



INDEX 

PAGE 

Fancies, dress goods . . . z8 

Fancy colored yarns 36 

Farr Alpaca Company 7^ 

Firm, members of, William Whitman & Company ... 11 

Fitch, Louis H 1 1 

Gray Goods Department . 65 

Hamilton Manufacturing Company 75 

Hamilton Woolen Company 75 

Hartshorne, William D., researches in hygroscopic qualities 

of wool 40 

Hayes, Dr. John L 73 

Hours of labor in mills 88 

Hygroscopic qualities of wool 40 

Improved conditions in modern mills 88 

Jordan, Eben D 79 

Linings 31 

Lowe, Horace Arthur, English chemist 83 

Lowell, Judge Francis C, decision in mercerizing litigation . 86 

Manchester Mills 75 

Manomet Mills, care of employees 88 

Manomet Mills, combed yarn specialties 48 

Manomet Mills, officers and directors 44 

Marland, John 74 

Mercerizing litigation in America 85 

Mercerizing litigation in England 84 

Mercerizing, the process 83 

Mercer, John, inventor 83 

Modern mills, improved conditions 88 

Morrill tariff 76 

Mousselaine delaines 74 

Naphtha solvent process 39 

Nashawena Mills, care of employees 88 

Nashawena Mills, fabrics 65 

Nashawena Mills, officers and directors 64 

93 



INDEX 

PAGE 



Nashawena Mills, silk and cotton goods 67 

Nashawena Mills, special contract work ....... 70 

New Bedford, favorable conditions for textile manufacture . 47 

New Bedford, group of mills (map) 72 

Nonquitt Spinning Company, care of employees . . . . 88 

Nonquitt Spinning Company, officers and directors . . . 55 

Nonquitt Spinning Company, specialties 49 

Northern yarns 46 

Output of cloth 21 

Pacific Mills • 75, i"] 

Peruvian cotton 17 

Peruvian cotton, importation of . 16 

Piece-dyed fabrics 29 

Prevost, Emmanuel 84 

Printed Goods Department . . . . . • . . . . . , 57 

Ready-to-wear garments 26 

Sea Island Cotton 16, 17 

Selling agents, William Whitman & Company, for what mills 1 8 

Silk and cotton goods 6'] 

Silk, description of 68 

Simpson-Eddystone fabrics 62 

Simpson, William, Sr. . . . . . 57 

Southern yarns 45 

Specialization 51 

Staples, dress goods „ ' 28 

Tariff, Morrill 76 

Tariff of 1867 81 

Tariff revision of i 890 82 

Thomas, Richard 84 

Tops defined 22 

Tops; manufacture of 37 

Tops, "regain" 41 

Transcript, Boston, quoted 79 

United States, cotton producing area of , . . . . . . 14 

United States, wool production of. 12 

Upland cotton 17 

94 



INDEX 

PAGE 

W^inwright, Charles 89 

Washington Mills ']'] 

Webster, William E. . . . " 76 

Weekly payments in mills 89 

Whitman, Malcolm D 11 

Whitman, William 11, 81 

Whitman, William, Jr. . 11 

Whitman, William, & Company, Cotton Yarn Department . 45 

Whitman, William, & Company, Dress Goods Department . 25 

Whitman, William, & Company, Gray Goods Department . 65 

Whitman, William, & Company, members of firm ... 11 
Whitman, William, & Company, mills for which sole selling 

agents 18 

Whitman, William, & Company, New Bedford group of 

mills (map) 72 

Whitman, William, & Company, organization of business . 22 

Whitman, William, & Company, policy of firm . . . . 19 

Whitman, William, & Company, Printed Goods Department 57 

Whitman, William, & Company, Worsted Yarn Department 33 

Wool, consumption of 22 

Wool, hygroscopic qualities of 40 

Wool production of the United States 12 

Wool production of the world 13 

Wools, combing .26 

World, wool production of 13 

World's cotton production 15 

Worsted Yarn Department 33 

Worsted yarn specialties 35 

Worsted yarns 33 

Yarn-dyed fabrics 30 



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